Women And Gender In Higher Education

This volume provides a critical examination of the status of women and gender in higher education today. Despite the increasing numbers of women in higher education, gendered structures continue to hinder women’s advancement in academia. This book goes beyond the numbers to examine the issues facing those members of academia with non-dominant gender identities. The authors analyze higher education structures from a range of perspectives and offer recommendations at individual and institutional levels to encourage activism and advance equality in academia.

Women and Leadership in Higher Education is the first volume in a new series of books (Women and Leadership: Research, Theory, and Practice) that will be published in upcoming years to inform leadership scholars and practitioners. This book links theory, research, and practice of women’s leadership in various higher education contexts and offers suggestions for future leadership development strategies. This volume focuses on the field of higher education, particularly within the context of the United States—a sector that serves a majority of students at all degree levels who are women, yet lacks parity by women in senior leadership roles. The book’s fifteen chapters present both hard facts regarding the current demographic realities within higher education and fresh thinking about how progress can and must be made in order for U.S. higher education to benefit from the perspectives of women at the senior leadership table. The book’s opening section provides data and analysis in addressing “The State of Women and Leadership in Higher Education”; the second section offers descriptions of three effective models for women’s leadership development at the national and institutional levels; the third section draws from recent research to present “Women’s Experiences and Contributions in Higher Education Leadership.” The book concludes with five shorter chapters written by current and former college and university presidents who offer “Lessons from the Trenches” for the benefit of those who follow. In short, the thesis of the book is that our world is changing; higher education collectively, as well as institutions of all types, must change. Bringing more women into leadership is critical to the goal of moving our society and world forward in healthier ways.

Since the founding of the nation, higher education has helped female faculty and students assert themselves in establishing equality between men and women across the country (Morris, 1984). During the nineteenth century, women had limited access to many sectors of American society because of their inferior status to men. Such differences were visible in both political and academic arenas. This discrimination reflected general societal norms of the time, relegating women to the roles of mothers and homemakers. Women and Gender in Higher Education provides a comprehensive review of the varying concepts that address the development of women in higher education, including how women understand the world around them—making meaning for themselves and their environment—and acknowledging the intersectionality of their identity. It also breaks new ground in the conversation about the roles of women and gender in higher education. Perfect for courses such as: Theoretical Frameworks of Discrimination | Marginality in Relation to Gender | History of Women and Gender | Concepts of Gendered Behavior | Colonial Model v. Contemporary Discrimination | Absence of Identity in Privilege Model | Power and Privilege Model Redefined | Foundational Framework for Oppression Theory

Encyclopedic review about gender and its impact on American higher education across historical and cultural contexts. The contributors describe the ways in which gender is embedded in the educational practices, curriculum, institutional structures and governance of colleges and universities. Topics included are: institutional diversity; academic majors and programs; extracurricular organizations such as sororities, fraternities and women's centers; affirmative action and other higher educational policies; and theories that have been used to analyze and explain the ways in which gender in academe is constructed.

Bridging a gap between higher education research and women’s and gender studies, this volume explores the conceptual underpinnings and methodological implications involved in researching different concepts commonly associated with gender, including queer, trans*, women, men, feminisms, intersectionality, alongside discussions about the term gender itself. Drawing on a range of empirical experiences and methodological frameworks, chapter authors consider the ethical, political, theoretical, and practical questions that arise when conducting gender-related research in college and university contexts. This book is a foundation for understanding the complexities of gender, as well as a site for envisioning new futures for educators and researchers in this emerging global discipline.

While powerful gender inequalities remain in American society, women have made substantial gains and now largely surpass men in one crucial arena: education. Women now outperform men academically at all levels of school, and are more likely to obtain college degrees and enroll in graduate school. What accounts for this enormous reversal in the gender education gap? In The Rise of Women: The Growing Gender Gap in Education and What It Means for American Schools, Thomas DiPrete and Claudia Buchmann provide a detailed and accessible account of women’s educational advantage and suggest new strategies to improve schooling outcomes for both boys and girls. The Rise of Women opens with a masterful overview of the broader societal changes that accompanied the change in gender trends in higher education. The rise of egalitarian gender norms and a growing demand for college-educated workers allowed more women to enroll in colleges and universities nationwide. As this shift occurred, women quickly reversed the historical male advantage in education. By 2010, young women in their mid-twenties surpassed their male counterparts in earning college degrees by more than eight percentage points. The authors, however, reveal an important exception: While women have achieved parity in fields such as medicine and the law, they lag far behind men in engineering and physical science degrees. To explain these trends, The Rise of Women charts the performance of boys and girls over the course of their schooling. At each stage in the education process, they consider the gender-specific impact of factors such as families, schools, peers, race and class. Important differences emerge as early as kindergarten, where girls show higher levels of essential learning skills such as persistence and self-control. Girls also derive more intrinsic gratification from performing well on a day-to-day basis, a crucial advantage in the learning process. By contrast, boys must often navigate a conflict between their emerging masculine identity and a strong attachment to school. Families and peers play a crucial role at this juncture. The authors show the gender gap in educational attainment between children in the same families tends to be lower when the father is present and more highly educated. A strong academic climate, both among friends and at home, also tends to erode stereotypes that disconnect academic prowess and a healthy, masculine identity. Similarly, high schools with strong science curricula reduce the power of gender stereotypes concerning science and technology and encourage girls to major in scientific fields. As the value of a highly skilled workforce continues to grow, The Rise of Women argues that understanding the source and extent of the gender gap in higher education is essential to improving our schools and the economy. With its rigorous data and clear recommendations, this volume illuminates new ground for future education policies and research.

Despite improved access to higher education for women, the distribution of women and men varies considerably between fields of study. The chapters in this edited collection explore the participation status of women in higher education across the varying socio-economic and sociological backgrounds observed in different countries and regions.

In the 1890s, German feminists fighting for female higher education envied American women their small colleges. Yet by 1910, German women could study at any German university, a level of educational access not reached by American women until the 1960s. This book investigates this development as well as the cultural significance of the tremendous debate generated by aspiring female students. Central to Mazón's analysis is the concept of academic citizenship, a complex discourse permeating German student life. Shaped by this ideal, the student years were a crucial stage in the formation of masculine identity in the educated middle class, and a female student was unthinkable. Only by emphasizing the need for female gynecologists and teachers did the women's movement carve out a niche for academic women. Because the nineteenth-century German university was the model for the modern research university, the controversy resonates with contemporary American debates surrounding multiculturalism and higher education.