Challenges and Negotiations for Women in Higher Education

CONCEPTUALISING CHALLENGES AND NEGOTIATIONS FOR WOMEN IN HIGHER EDUCATION 1 2 3 Pamela Cotterill , Sue Jackson and Gayle Letherby 1 2 3 Staffordshire University; Birkeck, University of London; University of Plymouth INTRODUCTION Despite the historical tradition of academia as a male space (Evans, 1995; Abbott et al, 2005; Stanley, 1997; Letherby, 2003) it is possible to argue that the expansion of higher education in the 1980s and 1990s benefited women more than it did men. By 1995 there were two and a half times more women in the academy than in 1970/1 (Abbott et al 2005), and in the decade to follow the numbers of women undergraduate students had overtaken men with a substantial minority of these being older, non-standard entrants. Furthermore, as Paula J Caplan (1997: 3) argues: Visions of the academic life draw us women toward it, picturing an intellectual community whose members search with passion and integrity for Truth and Knowledge. We imagine that in academia we shall find freedom from bias, freedom from worldly struggles of power and wealth, freedom to choose what to study and what to say, and an environment characterized by tolerance and openness, where everyone’s energy is focused on the open exploration of ideas. However, whilst this may be the vision for some women, it is important not to view this widening of female participation in higher education through ‘rose tinted glasses’.