Experiences Of Women Academics Research Articles

Advancement and subordination of women academics in Saudi Arabia’s higher education

ABSTRACT This article explores the experience of women academics in Saudi Arabia’s higher education. Based on narrative inquiry and underpinned by Bourdieu’s work, I trace the influence of SA’s educational policy and the broader impact of patriarchal norms on the experience of 10 women academics. The article argues that gendered expectations mean that leadership roles within Higher Education (HE) are predominantly held by men, and women are prevented from fully participating in research, decision-making processes and other Higher Education activities beyond teaching and administration. The narratives presented in this article illustrate that HE in Saudi Arabia remains dominated by traditional patriarchal consciousness. The article concludes that to bring about change, women’s sections in Saudi universities need financial, administrative and academic independence.

Gender, Culture and Leadership: Learning from the Experiences of Women Academics in Pakistani Universities

Gender, Culture and Leadership: Learning from the Experiences of Women Academics in Pakistani Universities

What’s in a word? On the use of metaphors to describe the careers of women academics

ABSTRACT Various metaphors are used in the literature and media to refer to the careers and experiences of women academics. In the wake of the fascinating debate in the literature surrounding the adequacy of these expressions, considerable effort has been devoted to the pursuit of ‘the ideal metaphor’: one that is comprehensible, inclusive, intersectional, empowering; acknowledges the agency of women and all social actors within the organisation; and meets a number of other high standards. Drawing on classic arguments in the communication sciences, I argue that metaphors can hinder access to the conceptual content of one’s research and reasoning. I regard that as a potential problem, as one of the primary goals of such research is inclusion. I also contend that the use of figurative language, usually opaque and indirect, may reveal that the topic of women’s careers in academia is emotionally charged, bordering on the taboo. Finally, I problematise the assumption that underlies much of the literature: that the use of particular metaphors can influence behaviour and power relations.

Loaded dice: games playing and the gendered barriers of the academy

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the perceptions and experiences of women academics in the UK, participating in a small-scale qualitative study exploring career progression and encountered institutional obstacles. The accounts are considered in terms of both disadvantageous institutional strategies and interpersonal ones governing day-to-day working relationships. The findings contribute to a growing body of international research on gender constructions in the academy, where both inhibiting and exclusionary barriers are examined in focus group discussions (FGDs) in terms of gendered constructions that are perceived to impact upon the career opportunities of women academics. Analysis of data encouraged the employment of a ludic construction in this critical exploration of games playing and ‘gamesmanship’ (a masculinised term); these being themes raised in the FGDs as representing blocks and challenges to women’s academic careers.

“Absent data, absent women”: Gender and higher education leadership

The study of the position, status and experience of women academics has in recent decades attracted a great deal of scholarly attention. The literature is characterized by what might be referred to as the ‘absent women’ discourse, namely the underrepresentation of women in the highest positions in the sector, and is dominated by research conducted in the West. It is key, however, to look beyond the Western academy and not make assumptions about the status, position and experience of women academics in other contexts, or to assume that priority is given to gender equity universally. A key aspect from a policy perspective and in relation to supporting the advancement of women as academics is data: the absence of adequate, publically accessible data results in higher education sectors not being open to scrutiny. The purpose of this article is two-fold: first, the issue of absent data in the East Asian context – using Hong Kong as an example – is discussed. Second, the article presents large-scale empirical data generated by the authors to show that women academics are woefully underrepresented in all levels of leadership in the Hong Kong Academy.

The experience of women academics at a South African University

This article focuses on the experiences of women academics at a South African university, historically an enclave of male domination. The study employed an interpretative research methodology and utilised in-depth, semi-structured interviews as data collection method. The constant comparative method of data analysis was used to construct categories that captured recurring themes and patterns. The findings of this research denote both positive and negative experiences of women academics at the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU). Positives include the lessening of visible, overt discrimination and the advantage of flexible working hours. Negative experiences include the double workload of women academics, their ambivalent feelings about academia and its impact on their reactions and behaviour. The article concludes with a number of possible recommendations for all role-players in the academic arena.

Academic Women in the UK: Mainstreaming our experiences and networking for action

This article presents the experiences of women academics of management in the UK, who have used informal, collective strategies to move on, to mainstream their experiences and to challenge existing boundaries of management and their organisations. Having identified the repeating patterns of inequalities in management and management education as women academics, researchers and managers, the authors had to turn to action, to progress and to work on some solutions. This article explores the moving on process by presenting the experiences of women academics of management from two perspectives. Firstly, women academics' stories of their careers and their experience of management are outlined as an emancipatory consciousness-raising process. Secondly, the issues of moving on, taking action and challenging existing boundaries are discussed by means of a case study of a group of women academics who have chosen to question the confines of their working lives whilst gaining credibility in a changing context and driving some of the change for themselves. We offer the process we have engaged in as a strategy to support academic women to move on through critical reflection and action.

Gender on the agenda in management education?

Business/management schools may be currently using an exclusive approach to the study and development of management; by ignoring gender in this arena they are reinforcing the notion that women in management are invisible. Previous research suggests that there is a masculine bias in management education, which disadvantages both female and male learners and which may discourage managers from capitalising on gender diversity in the workplace. Discusses experiences of women academics and students in a business/management school and is based on the premise that change in management education will facilitate change in organisations. Therefore, rather than reinforcing the premise that management knowledge contributes to the maginalisation of women in management, argues that business/management schools should move to an inclusive approach, where management incorporates the experience and abilities of both men and women. Concludes by suggesting a number of initiatives to place gender on the agenda in business/management schools.

Gendered Cultures and Performance Appraisal: The Experience of Women Academics

This paper examines women academics' experiences of appraisal within one English university. Adopting the Foucauldian concepts of discourse and disciplinary power, the paper illustrates how appraisal functions as a disciplinary technology within the organization. Semi‐structured interviews, carried out on women academics, reveal how the power relations operating in appraisal work to ‘normalize’ the academic role as a highly competitive, productive unit focused on identifiable, quantitative outputs. The case illustrates the difficulties which women face in trying to put forward alternative discourses which accommodate domestic commitments or different career structures. The research concludes that women academics have only gained limited visibility and voice in the gendered academy through opting in to the new competitive and highly gendered macho culture. The possibilities for women in offering alternative discourses have not materialized, emphasizing the difficulties in changing gendered cultures and challenging the ubiquity of male power.

Gendered Cultures and Performance Appraisal: The Experience of Women Academics

This paper examines women academics’ experiences of appraisal within one English university. Adopting the Foucauldian concepts of discourse and disciplinary power, the paper illustrates how appraisal functions as a disciplinary technology within the organization. Semi‐structured interviews, carried out on women academics, reveal how the power relations operating in appraisal work to ‘normalize’ the academic role as a highly competitive, productive unit focused on identifiable, quantitative outputs. The case illustrates the difficulties which women face in trying to put forward alternative discourses which accommodate domestic commitments or different career structures. The research concludes that women academics have only gained limited visibility and voice in the gendered academy through opting in to the new competitive and highly gendered macho culture. The possibilities for women in offering alternative discourses have not materialized, emphasizing the difficultues in changing gendered cultures and challenging the ubiquity of male power.

In the margins: Experiences of women academics in British universities

Abstract Women academics are under‐represented in British universities. They only account for a minority of staff and are concentrated in the lower grades. All the statistical evidence points to the fact that a reason for this situation is that discrimination exists in the academic profession. Recent changes within British higher education, which have accelerated over the past few years may make the situation worse. They may have an even more detrimental effect on women's ability to compete on equal terms to men. This article will investigate this through the analysis and discussion of the findings from a study of 43 women academics. It will look at what factors work to keep women in their disadvantaged positions and whether recent changes in higher education have and are continuing to work to the further detriment of women striving to maintain a career in the academic profession.

Survivors in a male preserve: A study of British women academics' experiences and perceptions of discrimination in a UK university

Women academics in British universities make up a very small minority and are concentrated in the lower grades. All the statistical evidence points to the fact that a reason for this situation is that discrimination exists in the academic profession. Howerver, very little empirical information exists on the nature of this discrimination and how it operates. The study reported here seeks to contribute to the understanding of this phenomenon by exploring the processes involved, through the perceptions and experience of women academics themselves. A total of 43 women from a British university were interviewed at length, and problem areas were highlighted by their evidence.