Generation and Gender in Academia

By: Barbara Bagilhole and Kate White

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Synopsis: Generation and Gender in Academia is the first cross-cultural analysis of the differences in career trajectories and experiences between a senior and younger group of women academics. This volume uses individual autobiographies of women academics in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom, who are members of the international feminist research consortium – the Women in Higher Education Management (WHEM) Network. Four major themes in their stories are national context; organisational context; family, class and location; and agency. While the younger generation believe they are entitled to careers on the same terms as their male colleagues, major challenges remain. These include countering the argument that the battles have been won for younger academics; lack of support and mentoring at the outset of careers; the continuing difficulty of aspiring to a traditional academic career; capacity for playing the 'game' in managerial universities; and recognising mobility as crucial to career success.