Women Professors

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xix

   PDF

2. Women in the Professoriate

   • Carmel Diezmann, Susan Grieshaber

   Pages 1-11

3. The Higher the Fewer

   • Carmel Diezmann, Susan Grieshaber

   Pages 13-38

4. Climbing the Ladder

   • Carmel Diezmann, Susan Grieshaber

   Pages 39-77

5. Research Context and Design

   • Carmel Diezmann, Susan Grieshaber

   Pages 79-90

6. Research Kaleidoscope

   • Carmel Diezmann, Susan Grieshaber

   Pages 91-101

7. Snakes and Ladders

   • Carmel Diezmann, Susan Grieshaber

   Pages 103-136

8. The Boys’ Club

   • Carmel Diezmann, Susan Grieshaber

   Pages 137-154

9. Luck: The Double-Edged Sword

   • Carmel Diezmann, Susan Grieshaber

   Pages 155-168

10. Critical Events and Academic Women’s Career Profiles

    • Carmel Diezmann, Susan Grieshaber

    Pages 169-210

11. Navigating Rush Hours

    • Carmel Diezmann, Susan Grieshaber

    Pages 211-228

12. Back Matter

    Pages 229-255

    PDF

This book explores the career paths of Australian women who have succeeded in achieving professorships and beyond, where for the most part, such positions are predominately occupied by males. It also explores the gendered culture that exists across faculties and universities as reported by participants in a survey questionnaire of 525 new professors (female and male), and nearly 30 interviews of women in Australian higher education, either in small focus groups or individually. Futher, it identifies catalysts for and inhibitors of success for women and looks in depth at “the boys’ club” and how it impacts women’s progression. 


The book also highlights how critical life decisions — doctoral study, work and family — shape the careers of academic women. It identifies five distinct career profiles for women academics and the pressure points and effective support for each profile. Thus, this book can assist women academics who are making life decisions andthose supporting their career progression. It also provides insights into why affirmative action initiatives to improve the proportion of women in the professoriate have had minimal impact despite considerable investment over the past 30 years. 

• Australian higher education
• Gender Equality in education
• Gender Equity in Education
• Gender differences in Australia
• Women and the professoriate
• early career academics
• female academics
• mid-career academics
• the boys’ club
• women in academia
• women in higher education
• women professors

• Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

  Carmel Diezmann

• La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

  Susan Grieshaber

Carmel Diezmann (PhD) is an Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Education at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. She is interested in how individuals, groups and organisations build intellectual and professional capacities. Carmel’s research has included various aspects of university performance, including academic career performance, higher degree research students, university leadership, academic writing, research excellence, world rankings, and the relationship between university goals, strategies and achievements.


Sue Grieshaber (PhD) is Professor of Education and Director of Research at the School of Education at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. She also holds appointments as Adjunct Professor at Monash University and Queensland University of Technology. Her research interests focus on social justice and equity and draw on a range of theoretical perspectives. Research projects in which she has been involved have investigated women in academia, families, and curriculum, policy, pedagogies, play, and technologies in pre-school and the early years of schooling contexts.

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