Defying Odds and Certainty: Challenges and Approaches to the Retention, Inclusion and Resilience of African-American Women in Higher Education

In her article "An Analysis of University Definitions of Sexual Harassment" (Signs 8, no. 4 [Summer 1983]: 696-707), Phyllis L. Crocker evaluates the definitions of sexual harassment used by academic, professional, and governmental bodies. Her analysis is astute, enlightening, and important. However, she makes no mention of sexual harassment of women professors by their men students.' There is a general lack of awareness of this type of harassment not only in Crocker's work and the official definitions but also in other research on sexual harassment within

Reviewed by: Empowering Women in Higher Education and Student Affairs: Theory, Research, Narratives, and Practice from Feminist Perspectives ed. by Penny A. Pasque and Shelly Errington Nicholson Maigen Sullivan and Margaret W. Sallee Penny A. Pasque and Shelly Errington Nicholson (Eds.). Empowering Women in Higher Education and Student Affairs: Theory, Research, Narratives, and Practice from Feminist Perspectives. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, 2011. 348 pp. Paper: $49.95. ISBN: 978-1579223502. As a doctoral student in higher education with a master's degree in women's studies and as an assistant professor of higher education, we approached this collection combining our backgrounds in higher education and feminist scholarship. Empowering Women in Higher Education and Student Affairs: Theory, Research, Narratives, and Practice from Feminist Perspectives, edited by Penny Pasque and Shelly Errington Nicholson, has the purpose of examining women's multiple, intersectional identities throughout their careers in student affairs while also providing a historical, feminist perspective. In keeping with a feminist ideology that rejects having one voice speak for the experiences of all women, the editors have assembled a diverse group of contributors who work in higher education or student affairs. Also illustrating feminism's commitment to representation outside of traditional academic formats, the chapters are not solely articles reporting results of empirical studies; they include narratives, theoretical explorations of sexuality, gender, race, class and the evolution of identities as well as historical analyses of women in higher education. Each section concludes with narratives that draw on personal experiences that provide firsthand examples of the ideas illustrated in the preceding chapters. While each of the chapters helps to illustrate the experiences of women on college campuses, due to space limitations, we provide a broad overview of the various sections and highlight particular chapters that offer novel perspectives on the experiences of particular groups of women in higher education. Section 1 lays out the historical and current context for women in higher education and student affairs by exploring the ways in which the institution of higher education has affected female students, faculty, and staff in a variety of contexts. In Chapter 1, Shelley Errington Nicholson and Penny A. Pasque, offer a historical introduction to feminism including the three waves, general definitions of broader themes within feminism, and an overview of feminist methodologies that influenced other chapters in the book. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 provide examples of how women in student affairs and higher education have been shaped by policy and campus changes such as the roles of women's and gender centers on campus and the effect of Title IX. These chapters offer a complex view of history and how policy changes can have both positive and negative impacts on the populations they are attempting to help. This section provides the foundation for the rest of the book by offering a broad history of feminism and women in higher education. Section 2 delves into the lives of women in varying positions within colleges and universities, including students, faculty, and staff. In Chapter 5, Rachael Stimpson and Kimberly Filer focus on how female graduate students navigate work/life balance [End Page 130] issues and report research documenting that women are less satisfied with their ability to find a work/life balance than their male counterparts. Annemarie Vaccaro, in Chapter 7, explores how 59 nontraditional-age undergraduate women at a women's college struggled with forming positive self-images. The author used the intersections of race and gender to analyze these students' personal motivations, self-value, and the degree to which they felt empowered in their studies. Vaccaro's study is important in drawing attention to the fact that spaces presumed to be safe may not have that effect for all women and that steps should be taken to ensure that spaces are inclusive and supportive for everyone. The chapters in this section underscore the importance of addressing the need to assess women's satisfaction with their educational experience to provide support and encourage degree completion. The chapters in Section 3 explore the intersection of class, gender, race, and sexuality. Venice Thandi Sulè makes a strong contribution to the collection in Chapter 9 as she delves into the way race and gender interact to...

The history of women's engagement with the academy has been characterised by exclusion and inequality. Seven decades ago, Virginia Woolf1 asked: Do we want to join the procession or don't we? On wh...

The Problem. Postsecondary institutions are struggling more than ever before to find qualified, effective leaders to move into key administrative positions. One reason for the continued lack of prepared leaders is that there still remain few women in higher education positioned to take on such critical roles. The Solution. This Issue overview introduces the importance of and connections among HRD, leadership development, higher education, and leadership programs for women in higher education. It highlights the Issue’s overall problem, purpose, the approach used, and its relevance to practice. Concerns around the shortage of women in leadership positions in higher education settings are introduced, and the unique features of this particular Special Issue are outlined along with a brief introduction of each article. The Stakeholders. This Issue will provide researchers and practitioners in various fields of study with frameworks to use in developing, evaluating, and researching leadership programs for women in higher education and beyond.

Black Women in Higher Education

Introduction: Higher Education--A View from Minority Women by Lynne Brodie Welch The Climate and Support Needs of Minority Women Conducting a Campus Climate Study for Women and Minorities by Denise Wilbur Networking and Support for Women of Color by Barbara Mathhews Resolving Pink and Brown Conflicts Resulting from the White Male System by Patricia Bassett African American Women and Higher Education The Legacy of African American Women in Higher Education by Eleanor J. Smith and Paul M. Smith, Jr. The Ultimate Negotiation: Communication Challenges for African American Women in Higher Education by Mary Ann Williams The Emergence of Black Women as College Presidents by M. Colleen Jones Hispanic Women and Higher Education Hispanic Women in the U.S. Academic Context by Sarah Nieves-Squires Xenophobia or Xenophilia? Hispanic Women in Higher Education by Anita Leal and Teresa Cecilia Menjivar International Perspectives on Minority Women and Higher Education Academic Role Models Needed for Females in the Third World by Martha Tyler John Ivory Towers and Village Streets: An Essential Role for Women in Higher Education in Global Survival Issues by Dee Aker The Status of Women in Chinese Universities by Roberta L. Weil Bibliography Index

This paper explores how repetitive language functions as a form of resistance for Black women navigating academic spaces across Ontario, Canada, and England. Drawing on Gilroy's The Black Atlantic (Gilroy, P. 1993. The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. London: Verso), W.E.B. Du Bois’ concept of double consciousness (Du Bois, W. E. B. 1903. The Souls of Black Folk. Knoxville, TN: A.C. McClurg & Co), and Black Feminist Thought (Collins, P. H. 2019. Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory. Durham: Duke University Press), alongside discourse analysis (Johnstone, B., and J. Andrus. 2024. Discourse Analysis. John Wiley & Sons), this study examines how the repetitive patterns in Black women’s language act both as individual expressions of experiences and as communal affirmations of identity. This research underscores how language challenges institutional structures, revealing the creative and nuanced ways Black women resist and reframe oppressive narratives. Using in-person and online conversations with Black women across university roles in Ontario and England this paper shows how thematic dimensions of talk such as vulnerability, self-preservation, resistance and reclamation resonate with repetition as a linguistic practice. The analysis shows that repetition is not merely stylistic: it functions as a tool of collective assertion, critique, and affirmation. Through repetition, contributors forge solidarity, challenge institutional failures, and celebrate Black joy in defiance of systemic constraints. These findings contribute to scholarship on language as resistance and self-definition, and underscore the need for academic institutions to recognise and address the unique experiences of Black women (Rollock, N. 2021. ““I Would Have Become Wallpaper Had Racism Had Its Way”: Black Female Professors, Racial Battle Fatigue, and Strategies for Surviving Higher Education.” Peabody Journal of Education 96 (2): 206–217). By exploring Black women’s experiences in academic spaces, this paper also examines how workplace marginalisation is represented within their narratives, revealing how institutional policing manifests in their everyday interactions. By linking linguistic strategies such as repetition and parallelism with broader institutional critiques, this paper builds on scholarly discussions of how language is not only a response to systemic barriers but also a disruption of them, positioning Black women’s speech as an active site of resistance and transformation (Chance, N. L. 2022. “Resilient Leadership: A Phenomenological Exploration into How Black Women in Higher Education Leadership Navigate Cultural Adversity.” Journal of Humanistic Psychology 62 (1): 44–78.; Williams, B. M. 2023. ““It’s Just My Face:” Workplace Policing of Black Professional Women in Higher Education.” Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education 16 (2): 67–89).

This article examines the lived experiences of women in Ethiopian higher education (HE) as a counterpoint to understandings of gender equity informed only by data on admission, progression and completions rates. Drawing on a critical qualitative inquiry approach, we analyse and interpret data drawn from focus group discussions with female students and academic women in two public universities in Ethiopia. Individual accounts and shared experiences of women in HE revealed that despite affirmative action policies that slightly benefit females at entry point, gender inequality persists in qualitative forms. Prejudice against women and sexual violence are highlighted as key expressions of qualitative gender inequalities in the two universities. It is argued that HE institutions in Ethiopia are male-dominated, hierarchical and hostile to women. Furthermore, taken-for-granted gender assumptions and beliefs at institutional, social relational and individual levels operate to make women conform to structures of disadvantage and in effect sustain the repressive gender relations.

An examination of recent research on African-American women in higher education demonstrates that the literature holds a minority position not unlike that of African-American women in society. There is not a great deal of research on African-American women in higher education. Yet, the current and developing body of research on African-American women in higher education provides groundwork for realizing our history, dispelling myths, relating our experiences, formulating theoretical frameworks, and establishing our identity in higher education (and in the larger social structure). Why is there a lack of research about African-American women in higher education? In the introduction to their anthology of writings on AfricanAmerican women's studies, All the Women Are White, All the Blacks are Men, But Some of Us are Brave, Gloria T. Hull, Patricia Bell Scott, and Barbara Smith (1982) affirm that the intellectual void surrounding African-American women is totally related to the politics of a white male society. This society does not recognize, and denies, the importance of African-American women's lives and contributions through racial, sexual, and class oppression. Hull et al. call for an examination of the lives and experience of ordinary, as well as exceptional African-American women from a pro-

Women in higher education: Issues and challenges

ABSTRACTA staggeringly low ranking (114 out of 144) on the 2017 Global Gender Gap economic participation and opportunity scale compels Japanese higher education leaders to enact effective policies and practices that support women’s professional trajectories. The current study examined the lived experiences of 16 women in Japanese higher education who hoped to enter Japan’s economic sector upon graduation. Employing a feminist case study methodology, an analysis of in-depth interviews revealed the following themes: (1) in college and career planning, women redefined themselves in ways that ran counter to traditional expectations; (2) female role models demystified work-life balance and imparted strategies for a gendered workforce; and (3) despite prior leadership experiences, institutional barriers and low leadership efficacy prevented women from serving as leaders in higher education. The study includes recommendations for Japan’s postsecondary system, limitations to qualitative research methods, and posits that Japan can significantly strengthen its economy by developing the leadership efficacy of women in higher education. As a global community, we cannot expect women to leap confidently into leadership roles in the public and private sector without providing effective leadership development in higher education.

Introduction and Purpose The literature is becoming replete with studies that address the issue of sexism in the lives of women seeking full participation in the academy (Aguirre, 2000; Finkel, Olswang, & She, 1994; LeBlanc, 1993; Sandler, 1993). Volumes upon volumes record the injustices and frustration women have faced in higher education. There have been numerous reports of wage inequities, vague publishing expectations, ambiguous tenure requirements, limited access to certain academic disciplines, lack of mentorship and networking opportunities, and exclusion from strategic decision-making positions (Burgess, 1997; Finkel, et al., 1994; Warner & DeFleur, 1993). In much of this research, women are classified as a singular group not taking into consideration the impact that race may contribute to any one of these variables if the whole group were broken down into separate ethnic groups and investigated. For instance, based upon the long and turbulent history of race relations in the United States, a person would be remiss to assume historical ideologies (inferior vs. superior) created by a White male patriarchal system have no bearing on the experiences of African American and other women of color in higher education today (Amott & Matthaei, 1996). However, this is not to imply that White female academicians have not suffered because of the system in existence; rather, it simply infers that because of their ethnicity, their academic experiences have not been shaped by the intersections of race and gender as have those of women of color. It is precisely these overlapping socio-cultural factors (e.g., race, gender) that require an examination of the experiences of African American women to be placed within the proper social and political contexts in which their realities are constructed (Collins, 1990; Hurtado, Milen, Clayton-Peterson, & Allen, 1999). A number of studies have attempted to explain the status of African American women in higher education. However, what generally occurs in many of these studies is that the experiences of Black women are compared to those of other women, usually White women, to verify whether or not they are meeting some arbitrary standard of normalcy in the academy (Miller & Vaughn, 1997). Naturally, these findings will explain the experiences of some African American women in higher education. However, they are limited in their analysis because they do not take into account the legacy of race and gender relations in shaping the lives of African American women in society in general and in higher education more specifically (Collins, 1990; Gregory, 1995). Furthermore, these studies do not reveal how African American women interpret their experiences in predominantly White institutions, nor do they allow the women to discuss how socio-cultural issues affect their overall academic citizenship. These studies are also limited in their representation because they fail to consider the variation in responses that will be obtained from any two Black women as a result of their individual differences and personal experiences (Collins, 1990; Hurtado et al., 1999), which will ultimately influence how the women respond to interactions in their academic roles (Holmes, 1999). The purpose of this article is to present findings of a qualitative study conducted to investigate the academic experiences of selected African American women faculty employed by four-year predominantly White institutions. I started this line of inquiry as a graduate student attending a large predominantly White institution. As an African American woman, I was concerned with the small number of African American women faculty I encountered during my graduate program. Of equal concern was the lack of literature regarding Black women in the academy, as well as the substance of the available literature. I was particularly interested in examining the women's experiences within the context of race and gender because extant literature suggests that these constructs shape the academic roles of African American people in higher education (Collins, 1990; Thompson & Dey, 1998; Turner, Myers, Creswell, 1999; Miller, & Vaughn, 1997). …

One: The Status of Women in Higher Education.- 1. Women and higher education: Trends and perspectives.- Two: Politics and Policies in Nation States.- 2. Women's education in the U.S.S.R.: 1950-1985.- 3. Continuity and change in women's access to higher education in the People's Republic of China, 1930-1980.- 4. Women in higher education in Africa: Access and choices.- 5. Feminist reflections on the Peruvian university politics.- 6. Public and higher education policies influencing African-American women.- 7. Educational reforms - Women's life patterns: A Swedish case study.- 8. Public-private tendencies within higher education in Norway from a women's perspective.- 9. Women in higher education: Effects of crises and change.- Three: Women in the Academic Workforce and the Economy.- 10. Women in the academic profession: Evolution or stagnation?.- 11. Women at the top: Female full professors in higher education in Israel.- 12. The situation of women in research universities in the United States: Within the inner circles of academic power.- 13. Influences on women's entry into male-dominated occupations.- 14. Access, equity, and outcomes: Women students' participation in Nigerian higher education.- 15. Study abroad: A competitive edge for women?.- 16. Gender, wages and the labour market for tertiary graduates in Australia.- Four: Looking for Alternatives in Higher Education: Women's Studies.- 17. Feminist scholarship and the American Academy.- 18. Feminist scholarship as a vocation.- 19. Integrating women into the curriculum: Multiple motives and mixed emotions.- 20. Women's Studies in India.- Five: Bibliography.- Women and higher education: A bibliography.

Reviewed by: Investing in the Educational Success of Black Women and Girls ed. by Lori D. Patton, Venus E. Evans-Winters, and Charlotte E. Jacobs Emerald Templeton Investing in the Educational Success of Black Women and Girls Lori D. Patton, Venus E. Evans-Winters, and Charlotte E. Jacobs (Editors) Sterling, VA: Stylus, 2022, 312 pages, $37.50 (softcover) In her seminal work, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment, Hill Collins (2000) described the "hidden space of Black women's consciousness" (p. 98) that includes self-definition; self-determination; and resistance to racism, sexism, classism, and white supremacy. Lori D. Patton, Venus E. Evans-Winters, and Charlotte E. Jacobs's work is an embodiment of this consciousness. Much like how Hill Collins designed Black Feminist Thought, the editors of this volume created an accessible text grounded in Black women and girls' experiences, knowledges, and existence. As a Black woman scholar whose research underscores the experiences of Black women in higher education while uncovering the logics of valuing diversity, I recognize the authority of this work and find that it aligns with and informs my scholarly interests. As a former Black girl who has trudged through misogynoir throughout my educational experiences, I feel incredibly affirmed, seen, and celebrated through this work. Written from the vantage point of women and girls across the spectrum of Black womanhood and girlhood, the authors of this edited volume artfully describe how we navigate the American system of education while maintaining our meanings and intonating our expressions (Hill Collins, 2000). This text is organized into four sections: (a) Mattering for Black Women and Girls in Schooling Contexts, (b) Naming and Challenging the Violence and Criminalization of Black Women and Girls, (c) Navigating Politics and the Politicization of Black Women and Girls in Higher Education, and (d) Still We Rise: Black Women and Girls Lifting and Loving Black Women and Girls. The chapters in these sections provide the reader with context, discussion questions, further reading, and additional resources. These sections weave together narratives that illustrate the depth, breadth, and rigor of scholarship about Black women and girls. Each section sheds light on multiple experiences and voices, which I will describe below. In the first section, Mattering for Black Women and Girls in Schooling Contexts, Patton et al. set the tone for this volume and lay a foundation for understanding the ways of knowing (epistemologies), being (ontologies), and thinking (ideologies) that influence Black women and girls' efficacy in school. Chapter 1, "Mid-Twerk and Mid-Laugh," uncovers how Black girls' ability to express themselves through laughter and dancing in culturally situated ways is stifled and criminalized. Further, the author posits that this level of expressiveness provides an opportunity for learning that schools can engage for transformation. In Chapter 2, readers are presented with ways to enact the Black girls' literacy framework, which allows schools to expand learning and literacy beyond simply reading and writing to a nuanced practice that situates learning in sociopolitical, historical, and cultural contexts. Similarly, Chapters 3 and 4 discuss the ways myths and stereotypes depict Black girls as older than they are, disrespectful, and underachieving. Such myths must be dispelled so that Black girls can find belonging and safety in spaces that were not intended for them. Together, these chapters encompass why [End Page 250] Black girls matter and how schools can begin to embrace that fact. The second section, Naming and Challenging the Violence and Criminalization of Black Women and Girls, begins by situating the education of Black women and girls within a political context that surveils, polices, and arrests them. Chapters 5 and 6 detail the ways in which schools are failing Black girls—pushing them out and deeming them "nobodies"—by highlighting compelling cases and data related to their involvement with school discipline and the legal system. Further, the ways in which a lack of care and value for Black women and girls persist through higher education are explicated in Chapters 7 and 8. The authors herein urge educators and administrators to challenge their biases about gender and race and interrogate how the intersection of those identities reveals the ways they characterize and value Black women and girls...

Based on interviews with 18 UK women academics and managers on quality and power in higher education, this article interrogates the impact of quality assurance discourses and practices on women in higher education. Micro‐level analysis of the effects of audit and the evaluative state seem to suggest that hegemonic masculinities and gendered power relations are being reinforced by the emphasis on competition, targets, audit trails and performance (Morley, 2003a). Furthermore, pedagogic space for exploring social justice issues is closing with the emphasis on learning outcomes and student consumerism (Morley, 2003b). Yet women are also gaining new visibility as a consequence of the creation of a new cadre of quality managers. Quality assurance, as a regime of power, appears to offer both repressive and creative potential for women. This article will explore whether quality signs and practices are gendered and whether these represent opportunity or exploitation for women in the academy.