Hidden transcripts: The micropolitics of gender in Commonwealth universities

Abstract

This article is about the subtle and complex ways in which discrimination against women takes place in higher education. A major finding of the Gender Equity in Commonwealth Higher Education Project was the way in which gendered power is relayed via everyday transactions and relationships. Even where there is a sophisticated equity policy context as in the case of South Africa, macro aspirations often do not reach the micro-level of experience. This article applies the conceptual framework of micropolitics in its analysis of women students' and staffs' experiences of the gendered organisational culture of higher education. It examines how gender discrimination can take place via informal networks, coalitions, and exclusions, as well as by formal arrangements in classrooms and boardrooms.