Abstract
Academic Women: Voicing Narratives of Gendered Experiences provides an essential overview of the roles and challenges faced by women in academic positions from a transglobal perspective. Drawing on feminist theories, intersectionality, critical race theories and others that seek to explore the nuances of gender in relation to the many expectations and experiences associated with higher education, the studies in this volume take a feminist approach. Much of their conceptual framework comes from Joan Acker’s (1990) theoretical and empirical work on gender in organisations.
It is often – and erroneously – assumed that gender issues have been resolved with the increase in women’s participation in higher education worldwide since the mid-1980s and that equality has been achieved (Weaver-Hightower and Niemi, 2020). However, decades of feminist research has shown that despite positive statistics on women’s presence, structural and cultural gender inequalities continue to shape women’s experiences in higher education. The transnational nature of the examples offered in this book allows for analysis of visible inequalities for women and reflection (incrementally) on the cumulative ways in which some identities are underrepresented in higher education.
The book explores precisely the persistence of these gender inequalities. It begins with an essential chapter by the editors on key concepts for understanding the gendered experiences of women in higher education, recognising that the diversity of their experiences is undoubtedly intersectional. By incorporating methodologies that challenge conventional approaches, such as autoethnographies, the exploration of vignettes, storytelling, and the analysis of online feminist communities, it also manages to bring together multiple voices to highlight the pervasiveness of structural gender inequalities in academia.
Similarly, this book provides the analysis of different realities and experiences from countries at different levels of development, which emphasises the importance of looking at how cultures (often conservative and from the Global South) reinforce religious prejudices and rigid rules imposed on women. For instance, Romana Hossain’s chapter on the case of female academics who returned to Bangladesh reveals the hegemonic submission of women in the country, where their career progression depends on the decision of their partner or family. Crossing several scientific fields, this book shows that academia is still masculinised and tends to confine women to reproducing patriarchal practices. Several chapters expose that despite the current efforts of higher education institutions around the world to implement equality and diversity strategies and policies, there are institutional practices that incorporate patriarchal and misogynistic tendencies ‘which further favour neoliberalised characteristics that shape higher education into corporatised institutions’ (p. 11). One of the effects of this phenomenon is indeed to stifle opportunities for women and gender identities who have been marginalised from working or entering academia.
A key focus of the book is to examine the impact of neoliberalism in maintaining and reproducing traditional gender norms and creating additional barriers for women. The chapters show that neoliberalism, by enabling the presence of women in leadership positions through meritocracy, does not really challenge the patriarchal and misogynist institutional cultures, structures, and discourses that shape women’s experiences of access to the top of the career ladder. Hence, the glass ceiling effect, as it is fundamentally exposed and theorised, is a metaphor that resonates throughout the book, illustrating precisely how women have to conform to hegemonic notions of masculinity in order to be recognised and reach the top career positions.
The neoliberal culture in higher education institutions means that those who are part of it are in permanent conflict and competition over funding, prizes, and career progression. Michelle Ronksley-Pavia (chapter 6) provides an insightful contribution to the understanding of this socioeconomical context with her chapter on gender bias in the evaluation of female teachers. Her study encourages us to explore this issue further so that evaluations do not become a barrier to women’s career progression. As this chapter shows, reductive evaluations that don’t consider the complexity of gender often lead to phenomena such as mansplaining and imposter syndrome, which are presented as microaggressions in this context. Although the concept is not often mentioned, this book contributes to the knowledge about the effects of the ‘Chilly Climate’, a term coined by Hall and Sandler (1982) to refer to environments characterised by the unequal treatment of women. The chapters in the book show how the tendency to require women to perform differently from men for the same tasks continues to permeate academia. This factor is exacerbated by the intersectional axes that come into play. It often translates into forms of discrimination and even harassment that are rarely denounced.
One of the most interesting aspects of this book is realising how women largely bear the brunt of the complaints they make about gender inequality or even sexual harassment in academia. The process of reporting and investigating, as the authors point out, is particularly arduous and further marginalises survivors. This becomes even more evident when we look at the cultural diversity of the problem. For example, Jinfang (Jackie) Liu, in her chapter about Chinese women doctoral students in the US, shows the disparities in the handling of cases: ‘when women sued for gender discrimination at work or for sexual harassment from university professors or authorities, the men perpetrators often got no or little punishment’ (p. 104). This book converges with other recent publications that explore how colonialism, racism, and patriarchal and misogynist values persist even after a strong season of denunciation around #MeToo in academia (Pritchard and Edwards, 2023).
The various chapters of the book often mobilise the work of Sara Ahmed (2017), embodied mainly in her book Complaint! (Ahmed, 2021). When Sara Ahmed was faced with the discussion about the institutional component of grievances, the immanence of institutions, and what happens behind closed doors, she decided to resign from her position because she didn’t want to compromise and be an ally of the system. Here, she practises what she preaches: female solidarity, capable of shaking the ivory tower. The studies of this book offer a very clear message about how we can bring down what this book refers metaphorically as the dragon: ‘we must work collectively to raise the consciousness of students and colleagues to activate for change and future world solidarities’ (p. 47). That’s why one of the most interesting mottos to express women’s struggles in academia lies in ‘slaying the dragon’ (Chapter 3) through collective strategies of resistance in order to dismantle this culture that pushes women into the rubble of silence and lack of visibility.
The book presents several examples of this kind of collective work. In the face of incivility and discrimination, spaces for caring and sharing are discussed in institutions, with the aim of promoting solidarity and empathy in the face of the challenges posed by inequalities. Similarly, Kelly Pickard-Smith, Eleanora (Ele) Belfiore, and Amy Bonsall (chapter 11) explore potentialities around the study of experiences rendered in academia using support networks in digital communities (e.g. Facebook) as spaces that promote online activism.
Academic Women: Voicing Narratives of Gendered Experiences is a powerful resource that encourages us to think about collectives based on feminist assumptions of sorority and sisterhood, giving voice to marginalised experiences and bringing them into a theoretical realm. The insights from this book point us in the direction of recognition of these experiences and a re-negotiation of the distribution of power and representation in higher education institutions (Fraser, 2002). A reading of this book highlights its potential contribution to a more inclusive and equitable academy.
