Women in Higher Education

Everyday Knowledge & Uncommon Truths draws on the life experience & varied backgrounds of academic women from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, & Canada. The book addresses a variety of issues pertaining to women's home lives, education, teaching, research, writing, & activism. To provide diverse perspectives on women's experiences of being & knowing in & outside the academy, contributors draw on a range of critical approaches derived from feminism, post-structuralism, postmodernism, critical education theory, discourse theory & analysis, narrative inquiry & life histories.

Ethnic minority women in America's education system often feel that they have "two strikes against them." This volume brings together contributions by African-American, Hispanic, and other scholars who discuss various issues surrounding academic minority women, their dilemmas, and the roles they create for their successors. Subjects include the need for sensitization to cultural differences and methods for dealing with subtle and overt discrimination. The contributors call for support and networking systems, and make suggestions for conflict resolution.

This book addresses the interlocking systems of race and gender in institutions of higher education in America. The study is based on empirical data from African American women of various disciplines in faculty and administrative positions at traditionally white colleges and universities. It focuses primarily on narratives of the women in terms of how they are affected by racism, as well as sexism as they perform their duties in their academic environments. The findings suggest that a common thread exists relative to the experiences of the women. The book challenges and dispels the myth that Black progress has led to equality for African American women in the academy.

"(Addresses) the status, acceptance, progression, and teaching of black women.... Gives insight into the totality of the African American woman's experience in the academy" -- Shelley Goode, Spelman College

This volume examines American attitudes toward affirmative action policies through an extensive study of a national sample of university faculty. The author offers new insights into the competing values in American society which the policy of affirmative action serves to bring into conflict and finds important differences in the perceptions of white males as opposed to those of protected categorical groups in regard to affirmative action. The analysis also includes an extended treatment of the impact of recent Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action.

The detailed life stories of nine women academics in North American business faculties--three in their early careers, three at tenure time, and three who are recognized leaders in their field. Their stories are interpreted as a set of choices, and the insights and strategies are developed for the reader.

Affirmative Action and the University is the only full-length study to examine the impact of affirmative action on all higher education hiring practices. Drawing on data provided by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, the authors summarize, track, and evaluate changes in the gender and ethnic makeup of academic and nonacademic employees at private and public colleges and universities from the late 1970s through the mid-1990s. Separate chapters assess changes in employment opportunities for white women, blacks, Asians, Hispanics, and Native Americans.

The authors look at the extent to which a two-tier employment system exists. In such a system minorities and women are more likely to make their greatest gains in non-elite positions rather than in faculty and administrative positions. The authors also examine differences in hiring practices between public and private colleges and universities.

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) is one of the nation's oldest and most influential voices for equality in education, the professions, and public life. Tracing the history of the AAUW, Susan Levine provides a new perspective on the meaning of feminism for women in mainstream organizations. In so doing, she explores the problems that women confront and the strategies they have developed to achieve equal rights. By examining the experience of groups like AAUW, Levine suggests that feminism was not so much "reborn" in the 1970s as it was adopted by a rapidly growing constituency of college educated women demanding the realization of their goals.