Reframing Gender Equality Initiatives as University Adaptation

Abstract

Contemporary scholars of higher education change tend to overlook gender, and gender scholars tend to overlook higher education adaptation. In Women, Universities, and Change: Gender Equality in the European Union and the United States, we take a different approach because we are committed to promoting equality between women and men in our universities as well as enhancing the capabilities of our institutions to address other pressing social, political, and economic problems. Thus, the contributors to this book analyse how higher education’s responses to sociopolitical and economic influences affect gender equality at the nation-state and university levels in the European Union and the United States. We do this by examining strategic responses to key contextual and environmental factors and their impact on gender equality in higher education and by identifying ingredients for promoting gender equality within the structures and cultures of universities.