Abstract
Australian Universities consistently rank highly on lists that celebrate the most gender equal higher education institutions in the world. Despite participation in institutional frameworks for gender equity accreditation, what often lies beneath the outward display of gender equality is a lived experience of inequality. Whilst there is relative gender equality amongst academics employed at universities overall, men continue to dominate appointments at the professorial or senior executive levels. At the same time, gender asymmetries make women’s access to the opportunities and resources that are highly valued by the sector difficult. Women who experience intersections with care, mothering, race, sexual identity, class, and ability face additional obstacles. In this paper, three women in Australian academia attempt to disrupt the dominant masculine ideology and value system by sharing our lived experience of gender (in)equality in the academy.
Highlights
For the past 3 decades, Australian universities have been actively committed to gender equality through legislation [4], regulatory frameworks [43], National strategic plans [45], and institutional frameworks [38]
Our objective is to show that the mainstreaming of a gender equality discourse may obscure some of the gender asymmetries that are deeply entrenched in the everyday culture and ideology of the academy
We draw on our own lived experiences in the academy that spans across decades, institutions, and disciplines, arguing that visibilising women’s experiential knowledge must be a critical part of a mainstream gender equality discourse
Summary
For the past 3 decades, Australian universities have been actively committed to gender equality through legislation [4], regulatory frameworks [43], National strategic plans [45], and institutional frameworks [38]. Over this time, we have seen gradual but steady progress to women’s representation in the academy, yet much works remains to promote and improve gender equality within Australian Universities. Our objective is to show that the mainstreaming of a gender equality discourse may obscure some of the gender asymmetries that are deeply entrenched in the everyday culture and ideology of the academy. We draw on our own lived experiences in the academy that spans across decades, institutions, and disciplines, arguing that visibilising women’s experiential knowledge must be a critical part of a mainstream gender equality discourse
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