Gender, Power and Higher Education in a Globalised World

Download or read book Gender, Power and Higher Education in a Globalised World written by Pat O'Connor and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-08-24 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines persistent gender inequality in higher education, and asks what is preventing change from occurring. The editors and contributors argue that organizational resistance to gender equality is the key explanation; reflected in the endorsement of discourses such as excellence, choice, distorted intersectionality, revitalized biological essentialism and gender neutrality. These discourses implicitly and explicitly depict the status quo as appropriate, reasonable and fair: ultimately impeding efforts and attempts to promote gender equality. Drawing on research from around the world, this book explores the limits and possibilities of challenging these harmful discourses, focusing on the state and universities themselves as levers for change. It stresses the importance of institutional transformation, the vital contribution of feminist activists and the importance of women’s deceptively ‘small victories’ in the academy.