In the highly gendered academic sector, womens’ high participation rates have not translated into equal career progression with men. Existing literature suggests that early career publication success is a good indicator of long-term publication success. This research is intended to provide a better understanding of whether the notions of success espoused by neo-liberal universities align with the subjective measures of what constitutes academic success for women ECRs (early career researchers).,The study examines the perceptions of nine successful women ECRs at an Australian university. It uses collaborative autoethnography with thematic analysis of participants’ self-reflective narratives on being a successful ECR.,Five themes were identified. One focussed on objective academic success, which included publications, grants and citations. The other four themes – living a balanced life, making a difference, labour of love and freedom and flexibility – offered more subjective views of success. These included: research making a contribution to society, undertaking research they are passionate about, having autonomy in their role and achieving work-life balance.,The findings demonstrate that women define success in broader terms than neo-liberal universities, and future studies should consider these divergent definitions. Universities committed to equality should understand differences in how women may approach career progress and incorporate this into support processes and in alignment of individual and university goals.,This research offers unique insights into the experience of post-doctoral employment for women in the academic environment and the factors influencing their success in this early career phase.

中文翻译：

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对女性早期职业研究人员成功的看法

在两性平等的学术部门，妇女的高参与率并未转化为与男子平等的职业发展。现有文献表明，早期职业出版成功是长期出版成功的良好指标。这项研究旨在更好地理解新自由大学所拥护的成功观念是否与构成女性ECR（早期职业研究者）的学术成功的主观衡量指标相吻合。该研究考察了九位成功女性的看法澳大利亚大学的ECR。它使用协作式人种志技术，通过对参与者成功完成ECR的自我反思叙事进行主题分析，确定了五个主题。一个集中于客观的学术成功，包括出版物，赠款和引文。其他四个主题-生活平衡，有所作为，热爱劳动，自由和灵活性-提供了更主观的成功观。其中包括：为社会做出贡献的研究，进行他们热衷的研究，发挥作用的自主权并实现工作与生活的平衡。研究结果表明，女性比新自由大学更能定义成功，未来的研究应该考虑这些不同的定义。致力于平等的大学应理解妇女在职业发展上的差异，并将其纳入支持过程并与个人和大学目标保持一致。