"Patting Down" and "Patting Forward": Gendered Practices in the Academy in Australia

• In Event: 54.074 - Women in Higher Education

Abstract

Women are under-represented in the professoriate in Australia, with females comprising 40 percent of academic staff and 31 percent above beginning levels. The difference is more marked at associate and professor levels and male vice chancellors outnumber women by nearly 3:1. One reason for the low representation of women is the challenges they face in reaching the professoriate. Higher education has a traditionally masculine culture with women being overlooked or regarded as having less impact. This paper draws on interview data from a six-phase mixed method study to look closely at some everyday practices that present challenges to women. It attempts to produce knowledge differently by thinking with concepts and theorists rather than adopting an interpretivist approach to analysis.

Authors

• Susan J. Grieshaber, La Trobe University

• Carmel M. Diezmann, Australian Catholic University