Unequal Outcomes for Women Academics in Australian Universities: Reflections on Belinda Probert’s ‘I Just Couldn’t Fit In’

Abstract

The position of women academics in Australia is similar to that in other countries, where women are still under-represented in senior academic leadership positions. Why does progress seem to be so slow? This article hopes to contribute critically to the challenge entailed by Belinda Probert’s (2005) work, ‘“I just couldn’t fit in’: Gender and unequal outcomes in academic careers”. It considers her conclusions in the light of the 1992-2005 data from one of Australia’s newer universities, Victoria University in Melbourne. The paper also introduces a flow (or transition) model for analysing staffing changes in organisations that provides insights not usually presented in the literature on gender inequity in academic employment. The paper proposes a holistic explanation for persistent gender inequity, combining structural barriers in appointments with the unequal responsibilities women have for care.