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Gender Equality in Academic Career Progression: A Matter of Time?

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The Changing Role of Women in Higher Education

Abstract

The twenty-first century has seen the reduction of gender inequalities in the academic profession rise up European, national and institutional policy agendas. Significant progress has been made in policy analyses of the barriers to equality and programmes for change have multiplied. However, the profession is still characterised by strong vertical gender segregation The contention that gender equality in the academic profession is simply ‘a matter of time’ is called into question in this chapter. Drawing on a range of higher education research studies undertaken in the last two decades, it suggests that such a contention can be justified only in terms of more complex understandings of time and its social, cultural and psychological dimensions. Their importance has been further underlined by changes in information and communication technologies and the impacts on academics of ‘fast time’, compressed time and space-time.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The primary aim of this comparative research project, carried out in 2008 and 2009, was to explore perceptions of gender equality among female academics in British and German universities. The study used quantitative and qualitative methods but this chapter draws on the qualitative data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 87 female academics in five universities in each country and four disciplinary areas (biological sciences; economics, finance and management, education and history). For full details of the methodology and findings, see Pritchard (2010a, b).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK

    Mary Henkel

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  1. Mary Henkel
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Correspondence to Mary Henkel .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom

    Heather Eggins

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Henkel, M. (2017). Gender Equality in Academic Career Progression: A Matter of Time?. In: Eggins, H. (eds) The Changing Role of Women in Higher Education. The Changing Academy – The Changing Academic Profession in International Comparative Perspective, vol 17. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42436-1_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42436-1_10

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-42434-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-42436-1

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