Surviving the Academy

Book excerpt: This text brings together writing and research on feminist experience in academia. It covers issues such as provision of care, maternalism in the academy and dynamics of interaction between women in higher eduction. There are challenging and provocative analyses of many questions: how large is the gap between rhetoric and reality in HE institutions? how do institutions behave towards disabled staff? how far is stereotyping still affecting the roles which women play in academia? what do women face when they combine motherhood with teaching or studying? coping mechanisms and survival tactics are brought under scrutiny, and the effect these have on the behaviour of female academics and their interactions with the institution of each other. This text should provide insight and evidence for researchers to further develop their own theories, and also many starting points for those wishing to undertake their own research. Written in collaboration with the Women in Higher Education Network.