Academic sexism is creating a strong subject divide
Published: Thursday, July 14, 2011
Women - Universities and Zombies
The higher education system is under attack; this much we know. Scratch beneath the surface and the story is even more apocalyptic, especially if you are a woman, or friends with one, or just someone who believes in equal rights. The year is 2011! Do we really need to talk about women in Universities? The answer is YES. Pay gaps, and the marginalisation of women, are visible symptoms of a bigger set of ongoing problems. Combine overt discrimination with subtle forms of daily sexism, and we see the continued existence of a chilly climate for women in academia. Talking about the way in which gender inequality is institutionalised is profoundly linked to conversations about what higher education is for. Having this conversation is liberating - it also means we can re-frame higher education as a social, rather than economic, phenomenon.