Women Mentoring in Academe: addressing the gender gap in higher education

Although the number of women in management and administrative positions in all sectors of the economy is increasing over time, the majority of senior positions are still held by men. The lack of women role models in high management and administrative positions has been well documented, as has the lack of women faculty in many academic departments, and barriers to women's leadership due to male‐orientated organizational expectations. Research has shown that mentoring can significantly enhance income and promotion possibilities for individuals experiencing these relationships. In academe, mentoring awareness can reduce barriers to women's career advancement, tenure and pay. The objectives of this study were to explore mentoring functions senior women provided to their juniors and identify mentoring limitations women faced in academe. Senior women favored career mentoring and provided less psychosocial support. Subsequently, the classical mentoring experience is not realized. Research findings suggested recommendations for academic institutions interested in utilizing this strategy to advance women.     

An Occupational Hazard Warning: academic life can seriously damage your health. An investigation of sexual harassment of women academics in a UK university

The pervasiveness of sexual harassment in US academic institutions is widely documented. However, little is known, and little has been written about the extent of sexual harassment in UK universities. The study reported here investigates this issue through a qualitative survey of women academics in a UK university using intensive interviews. It analyses these women's perceptions and experiences of sexual harassment, from both colleagues and students. The findings are conceptualised using a recent comprehensive categorisation of types of harassment by Gruber (1992). It raises important questions about the possible under‐reporting and underestimation of the incidence of sexual harassment and its effect on professional women.     

Good jobs – but places for women?

This article is concerned with men and women's experience of elite positions and with the extent to which such positions are seen as places for women, so as to provide an insight into their commitment to continuing in them. Senior management in universities are elite positions in terms of income; those who occupy them are relatively powerful internally, although relatively powerless in relation to the state and the market. Drawing on a purposive study of those at the top three levels (i.e. presidential, vice-presidential, and dean) in public universities, it finds little difference between men and women's perceptions of the advantages/disadvantages of these positions. However, in a context where roughly four-fifths of those in university senior management are men [O'Connor, P. 2014. Management and Gender in Higher Education. Manchester: Manchester University Press.], at the level of organisational narratives and at the interactional level, gender differences persist. These differences are reflected in variation in commitment to continuing in senior management positions.     

Gender and prestige in Swedish academia: Exploring senior management in universities and university colleges

This article highlights the multifaceted character of the Swedish higher education sector and investigates senior academic management positions from a gender perspective using theories about an academic prestige economy and academic capitalism. The focus is on an aspect often overseen in research on Swedish academia: the distinction between universities and university colleges. The analysis draws on interviews with 22 women in senior management positions in Swedish higher education and a quantitative mapping of the Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor positions in universities and university colleges between 1990 and 2015. The results illustrate that the academic prestige economy is interwoven with both gender and academic capitalism and produce different working conditions and requirements for senior managers at universities and university colleges.     

Differently Academic? Constructions of ‘academic’ in higher education

This article draws on my research, in which I have interviewed a group of students over the course of their degrees. The women are all taking women's studies combined with a range of other subjects in a ‘new’ university with campuses in inner London and on its outskirts. This article considers the women's perceptions of both women's studies and their second subjects as "academic", as well as how they think both the university and the wider world value the academic nature of their various subjects. It asks whether subjects are only valued as "academic" if they focus on the writings of men, and are considered "objective", abstract and theoretical. Do students need to be seen to be "thinking like a man" in order to value their subjects and have them valued by others, or are there ways to be "differently academic"? It concludes by suggesting some alternative ways for institutions of higher education to consider the meaning of "academic" in higher education.     

Women academic leaders in a Latin American university: Reconciling the paradoxes of professional lives

This study used interviews with 18 women in positions of academic leadership at the University of Costa Rica to explore such questions as (1) why do women seem to have success attaining positions? (2) how did these women get to their current positions? (3) what obstacles did they meet along the way and what facilitated their journey? (4) what is the relationship of machmismo and institutional culture to women's professional choices and lives? A secondary purpose of the study was to provide insight into the lives of professional Latin American women, about which little is known. Traditional Western theories used to explain women's careers lead to the conclusion that Costa Rican women are oppressed and discriminated against in their quest for academic careers. An intepretivist framework focusing on the meaning women give to their lives suggests a different conclusion. Comparing themselves to women in the larger society, academic women described themselves as leading privileged lives in which rules are gender blind and women can achieve through hard work and dedication.     

Personal and professional development programmes for women: Paradigm and paradox

During the 1990s a number of positive/affirmative action initiatives were taken in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, to support the career development of women working in higher education, and as part of the attempt to address the gender imbalance that exists among academic staff and professional administrators, particularly at senior levels. A model for a management development programme for women at different stages of the career life cycle is presented as one such initiative. Evaluation and feedback from delegates has been consistently positive, immediately following courses and over the longer term. However, although there has been a small increase in the number of women being promoted, the overall percentage of women at senior levels remains low, both in the institutions that have participated in the programmes and in higher education generally. The rationale for such initiatives is examined in the context of factors that have been found to affect women's progress, and questions are raised about the implications for human resource development professionals in higher education.     

对“2010年起应届本科毕业生可报考全日制专业硕士”的政策分析

2010年高校面向应届本科毕业生招收硕士专业学位。学术性学位按学科设立,以学术研究为导向,偏重理论研究,培养大学教师和科研机构的研究人员;专业学位以专业实践为导向,重视实践应用,毕业生主要不是从事学术研究,而是从事具有明显的职业背景的工作。＂硕士专业学位招收应届本科毕业生＂政策的出台有深刻的时代背景,为使其不流于形式,达到真正优化研究生培养结构,满足社会对高层次应用型人才的迫切需求,国家应当立足长远,发展规划合理化;高校应当强化要素,培养体系专业化;社会应该综合协调,教育职业一体化。     

Complexities of Vietnamese femininities: a resource for rethinking women's university leadership practices

This paper develops a dialogical encounter between northern-inspired theorisations of gender and Vietnam's historical and cultural differentiation identified through the presence of matriarchy in ancient societies and its popularity in folklore and contemporary politics. The article draws on interviews with 12 senior women from 8 universities in Northern and Southern Vietnam. Three main themes are explored: (1) the Vietnamese woman as ‘general of the interior’; (2) the ‘woman behind the throne’; and (3) ‘behind a woman is another woman’. These themes illustrate the distinctiveness of a historically produced Vietnamese gender order as reflected in current university women's experience. By providing insights into the complex dynamics of Vietnamese women's ‘informal power’, as evident in both spheres of home and university, the paper presents a discussion of forms of Vietnamese femininity that contributes to re-theorising Connell's concepts of ‘hegemonic masculinity and emphasized femininity’.     

Retaining a foothold on the slippery paths of academia: university women,indirect discrimination,and the academic marketplace

This paper examines indirect discrimination in Australian universities that tends to obstruct and delay women’s academic careers. The topic is defined and contextualised via a 1998 speech by the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner, juxtaposed with a brief contemporaneous exemplar. The paper discusses the prevalence of women among casual and fixed‐term academic workers, and the contrasting low numbers of women in senior academic positions. It is argued that the neo‐liberal ‘marketisation’ of higher education, which still prevails, has fostered a number of indirectly discriminatory practices and conditions that substantially disadvantage women. A selection of studies of the problem are critiqued. It is argued that a broad statistical methodology is inadequate due to its tendency to ‘homogenise’ the academy and its component individuals, in the process giving scope for unjustified optimism among university policy‐makers. A particulate approach is advocated, acknowledging the wide variation between and within universities, and the range of hidden difficulties individual women academics can face. It is concluded that despite apparent reforms over the past decade, the situation of women has improved little in practical terms.     

Sacrifices in Greedy Universities: Are they gendered?

In 1995-97, a research team interviewed a cross-section of staff in two Australian public universities about the sacrifices they had to make to pursue their careers. This article discusses the responses of the staff who participated in this study. It uses Coser's concept of the 'greedy institution' to describe the hold which universities have over their staff and details the range of personal and professional sacrifices which staff made in order to be part of their university culture. Comparisons are drawn between male and female staff, academic and general staff, and the two universities which participated in this study. It is concluded that the overall impact of current economistic and neoliberal discourses are such as to minimise differences on each of these scores and produce a certain uniformity of response across site, gender and occupational status. The article suggests that this apparent uniformity is the product of a peak masculinist discourse used mainly by those in the more powerful positions in these institutions, which acts to disenfranchise all those who do not operate within its restricted and restrictive boundaries.     

Women in the Academy: the politics of speech and silence

This paper examines women's voice and silence in the academy. It begins with a discussion of the theoretical underpinnings of feminine voice and silence, and then analyses the gendered production of girls'/women's voices throughout their schooling careers from the primary to university classroom. This is followed by a discussion of the contradictory politics of voice when differences clash among women (students) of colour. I argue here that ‘granting’ spaces for women's speech may be pedagogically desirable but has potentially silencing effects. In closing, I consider some pedagogical strategies that can potentially enable women to better partake in the management of their own academic, social, and political interests.     

The participation of women faculty in Chinese universities: paradoxes of globalization

This paper contributes to a discussion of how globalization is affecting women faculty in different countries around the world. It reports on a collaborative, international research project designed to understand the participation of women faculty members in Chinese universities, sketching the historical context necessary for understanding women's place in universities in China, describing the process of surveying university faculty on gender issues and reporting the findings of the survey for universities that prepare secondary school teachers. The paper concludes that in China, ‘gender consciousness’ is a major barrier preventing women's full participation as faculty. As a result, women are likely to increase their disadvantage in the next few years as Chinese universities expand, diversify, emphasize research and broaden their links with the rest of the world.     

How to Keep a Good Woman Down: an investigation of the role of institutional factors in the process of discrimination against women academics

Women constitute a very small minority of the full time academic staff in British universities and are concentrated in the lower grades. Statistical evidence points to the fact that an important reason for this is that discrimination exists within the academic profession. However, there is very little empirical information on the nature of this discrimination and the institutional processes that serve to maintain it. The study reported here seeks to identify and illuminate these processes through the experiences and perceptions of women academics themselves. A total of 43 women were interviewed at length using a semi‐structured interview schedule, exploring issues such as recruitment and selection, probation, career development, appraisal, positions of power and the roles of women academics. It is suggested, in this paper, that we can begin to understand some of the factors which limit women's access to, and success within the profession by examining the evidence of women who have survived within the system.     

Women and professional development in higher education: A search for understanding

Abstract

Participation in professional development related to teaching is higher for female academics than for male academics at the University of Canberra. There is some evidence that this trend is widespread although variable across different universities and professional development activities. Various explanations are suggested as to why this occurs, including: that more teaching in universities is done by women than men; that women are naturally more committed to teaching than men; that structural inequities cause women to be more concentrated in the lower academic ranks and, therefore, more involved in teaching‐related activities; that women more than men believe professional development is important to enhance their teaching practice; that they are less confident in their academic role than men; that they feel more alienated and isolated in their work environment; and, that they are seeking role models and mentors. The paper explores these various explanations and suggests that a combination of factors probably causes the observed differential participation by women in professional development activities. What is more important than a search for explanations is an acknowledgment of the need to value and reward such behaviour. The paper concludes with an argument for valuing women's emphasis on teaching and their continued involvement in professional development related to teaching.     

Success,Gender and Academic Voices. Consuming Passion or Selling the Soul?

ABSTRACT In 1995 a research team interviewed a cross-section of academics and senior managers in an Australian public university about their perception of the attributes of success. A number of different views emerged. Respondents who felt the system was reasonable saw the successful academic as someone who was productive, hard-working, strategic and able to adopt a university-wide perspective. Those who saw the system as flawed, identified success in negative terms, speaking of 'careerism' and selfishness. This group also spoke of institutional discrimination. These responses were differently articulated by senior managers, and by male and female, and senior and junior, academics. The article discusses these responses. It concludes with an analysis of the way gender constructs patterns of academic and managerial success within universities, and argues that in a profoundly gendered fashion production is privileged over reproduction and output over process.     

Distance higher education for women in Saudi Arabia: Present and proposed

This paper describes the recent history of distance higher education in Saudi Arabia with particular reference to the education of women. It compares the contribution to external study for women of the General Presidency of Girls' Education (GPGE) with the introduction of intisab (a system which allows individuals to pursue higher education without attending lectures) in three universities founded for men. It records the growing numbers of women wishing to enter higher education and the withdrawal of intisab from two universities in Riyadh. It identifies the limitations placed on women's higher education as compared with men's and notes the generally conservative attitudes to the role of women found in Saudi Arabia. It oudines discussions over the last 15 years, concerning an Arab open university, which have yet to result in action. Finally, it reports a recent survey which reveals strong support for an open university for women in Saudi Arabia. Such an institution would gready increase access for women to higher education while, at the same time, be compatible with Islamic custom concerning the segregation of the sexes and a woman's primary role as wife and mother.     

THE POSITION OF WOMEN ACADEMICS IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE UKRAINE

In the 152 Ukrainian universities, colleges, and other varieties of higher education institutions, women hold positions in large numbers at only the lowest levels of the academic hierarchy and in only certain disciplines, like those of the humanities, in which in some cases women hold the majority of staff positions, even if invariably the heads of such chairs are men. In the same vein, not a single Ukrainian institution of higher education is headed by a woman, nor does Kiev State University, the principal Ukrainian university, have a female pro‐ or deputy rector or a female dean. Part of the problem stems from the fact that there is little mass realization on the part of women academics in the Ukraine that they are objects of discrimination. Another aspect of the problem is the small number of women who earn the doctor of sciences degree, the prerequisite for a senior administrative position. Finally, there are structural problems such as the diminution in the number of openings for teachers of the Russian language, an area where women are concentrated. The solutions called for include the creation of international exchange programmes, particularly for teachers of languages, and affirmative action programmes for women in all academic domains.     

‘Science Is Truly a Male World.’ The Interconnectedness of Knowledge,Gender and Power within University Education

In the 1970s the vicissitudes of university education were an important impetus for female students and members of staff to formulate feminist criticism on science subjects. Women's studies came into being, aiming at transforming academic scholarship and women's experience in education. Now that women's studies themselves are becoming institutionalised, new problems have developed and we need to question if science is now less of a male dominated bastion. In this article a case study is presented on the ‘trials’ and ‘tribulations’ of female university students at Wageningen Agricultural University in The Netherlands. A theoretical framework is introduced and an analysis of empirical material offered. It is apparent that female students are rather critical of their studies, although generally they do not leave the university before graduating. The university teacher emerges as a gatekeeper, holding the key of the door to the academic community, and using knowledge as a key resource.