Researching and Teaching in the Academy

Abstract

In the last chapter I explored ways in which women’s studies offers opportunities to be ‘differently academic’ and argued that in order to integrate lifelong learning into the academy a diversity of ways of being academic needs to be recognised and valued. In this chapter I will continue to ask whether women’s studies and feminist pedagogy and research can challenge traditional academic structures. In doing so, I move my discussion from undergraduate students to feminist teachers and researchers, drawing on detailed interviews with women’s studies lecturers, as well as my own experiences as teacher and researcher. I evaluate the position of women in teaching and research in higher education, with a particular emphasis on teaching women’s studies and engaging in feminist research. In calling these sections ‘researching women’ and ‘teaching women’, I indicate that I am considering teaching and research both of and by women. Whilst I will show that many women are keen to transcend the boundaries of more traditional academic research and teaching, I argue that the work of women academics remain undervalued, with severe effects on career opportunities and development. This has been an issue for many women, including myself. Feminist teachers and researchers can often find them(our)selves isolated in the academy, and gender issues are not always taken seriously.