tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/sexism-in-universities-9932/articlesSexism in universities – The Conversation2022-08-11T15:55:15Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1803892022-08-11T15:55:15Z2022-08-11T15:55:15ZMature students in universities face 3 kinds of barriers — here’s how to address them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476525/original/file-20220728-2377-knr16j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C46%2C5184%2C3220&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A chance to rethink one’s career or attend school remotely in the pandemic may affect why some mature students are returning to school. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the onset of the pandemic, many colleges <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/education/university-rankings/mature-students-ditch-lockdown-for-the-virtual-classroom/">and universities</a> have <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article-more-mature-students-head-back-to-class-amid-pandemic-upheaval/">reported record numbers</a> of applications from mature students — adults who <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20385649">return to school on a part- or full-time basis while maintaining responsibilities like employment, family and other adult life responsibilities</a>.</p>
<p>Both students and post-secondary leaders cite the chance to attend school remotely or to rethink one’s career in the pandemic as reasons for this trend.</p>
<p>Yet, it’s unclear which adults, exactly, are going back to school, and what demographics they represent, or <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-one-escaped-covids-impacts-but-big-fall-in-tertiary-enrolments-was-80-women-why-149994">how the pandemic affected enrolment overall</a>. For example, The <em>Guardian</em> reported that Australian universities saw a decrease in student enrolment that was “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/nov/12/female-enrolment-at-australian-universities-dropped-by-86000-in-2020-as-pink-recession-hit">highly gendered, with the number of female students dropping by 86,000</a>, compared with male students dropping by 21,200.” </p>
<p>My research examines the changes mature women students face when deciding to return to higher learning study, and what institutions might do to support their success. Universities can do more to address barriers that mature women students face when accessing higher education — and indeed, all non-traditional students, meaning any student demographic that has <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/make-way-for-the-non-traditional-student/">previously been under-represented in universities</a>. </p>
<h2>Gaining independence</h2>
<p>One study of employed middle-class men and women in dual-earner couples found that when returning to school in midlife, men <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-006-9150-8">mostly indicate</a> a desire for personal growth or career advancement. Women, meanwhile, are more likely to be motivated by their relationships and life events. </p>
<p>These differences are important because they speak to some barriers women face — such as the need to have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2014.973017">lessened family responsibilities or additional supports</a>. These responsibilities and the resources mature students have to manage them are affected by a variety of factors like class background or disability.</p>
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<img alt="The back of a child and adult seen holding hands." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476530/original/file-20220728-2377-rkp7xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476530/original/file-20220728-2377-rkp7xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476530/original/file-20220728-2377-rkp7xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476530/original/file-20220728-2377-rkp7xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476530/original/file-20220728-2377-rkp7xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476530/original/file-20220728-2377-rkp7xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476530/original/file-20220728-2377-rkp7xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Addressing barriers for some mature students means providing services or supports to ease their family responsibilities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>Encouraging women to return to school can have important personal <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/420729#b49">benefits</a> like fostering a sense of empowerment and gaining independence from traditional family structures. <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/ielapa.069076554869878">Research</a> has shown that higher education has the power to transform women’s identities and views of the world.</p>
<h2>Barriers to returning to school</h2>
<p>Research has identified <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1101356.pdf">three main types</a> of barriers mature women students face when returning to school:</p>
<p>1) <strong>Situational barriers</strong> refer to the conflicts women experience when juggling multiple roles like full-time paid work, child care and care-giving responsibilities. For example, when mature students who are mothers return to school, they often encounter societal stigmas and questioning of <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Motherhood-in-Contemporary-International-Perspective-Continuity-and-Change/Cocq/p/book/9780367777739">their characters as “good mothers.”</a></p>
<p>When adult students pursue higher education, they may encounter a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2014.973017">university culture dominated by younger students</a> and find that their own ways of participating in the academic environment are stigmatized. <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203427965-13/gendered-ageism-double-jeopardy-women-organizations">Gendered ageism</a> also occurs, for example, when women are thought to be beyond the expected age for their academic progression. Mature students may face gendered discrimination due to (perceived) declining “attractiveness” and social value with age. BIPOC mature students in universities face intersectional forms of discrimination: they also <a href="https://theconversation.com/canadian-universities-10-years-of-anti-racist-reports-but-little-action-153033">contend with systemic racism</a>.</p>
<p>2) <strong>Institutional barriers:</strong> As research by education scholar Xi Lin notes, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/hes.v6n2p119">challenges may come from family, peers, people in the school community and university structures</a>: situational barriers overlap with institutional barriers, if we understand both family and universities as social institutions. </p>
<p>For example, mature students can face gendered discrimination in interpersonal interactions; they can encounter racialized discrimination when curricula is exclusive and does not reflect the knowledge or lives of BIPOC people. Institutional barriers could also refer to a lack of accommodations for mature students with disabilities. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A person is smiling and holding binders." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476527/original/file-20220728-26301-74g2vy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476527/original/file-20220728-26301-74g2vy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476527/original/file-20220728-26301-74g2vy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476527/original/file-20220728-26301-74g2vy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476527/original/file-20220728-26301-74g2vy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476527/original/file-20220728-26301-74g2vy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476527/original/file-20220728-26301-74g2vy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Most universities and colleges are not adapted to the needs of learners who are balancing many roles and commitments.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Many universities are not adapted to the needs of learners who are balancing many roles and commitments. This relates to program design or student or campus services that run only in “normal” business hours. Yet research has shown that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0261547022000058189">when the logistics of academic programs change</a> to address the needs of mature students, their outcomes can improve. One example would be extending the time students can take to finish their program or adapting a program’s timetable around the hours of children’s schools. </p>
<p>3) <strong>Dispositional barriers</strong> are individual characteristics, including fear of failure, attitude toward intellectual activity and perceptions about the ability to succeed. Institutional and situational barriers can create a context where mature students question whether or not they belong at university because they do not “look” the part of a student. </p>
<h2>Addressing barriers</h2>
<p>I propose three main ways to better support mature students in higher education:</p>
<p>1) <strong>Address stigma of being older in higher education</strong>: As a society, we must address gendered ageism, in addition to racism and all forms of exclusion, in universities. Gendered ageism is a form of exclusion that remains <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2020/09/28/gendered-ageism-is-the-new-sexism/?sh=3902b8b814b1">unexplored</a>. Universities must expand their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to include ageism as a form of discrimination that will not be tolerated. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/teaching-university-students-to-be-age-conscious-could-help-address-our-elder-care-crisis-169935">Teaching university students to be 'age-conscious' could help address our elder care crisis</a>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tunnel and archway is seen on a university campus." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476529/original/file-20220728-20112-5znsgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476529/original/file-20220728-20112-5znsgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476529/original/file-20220728-20112-5znsgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476529/original/file-20220728-20112-5znsgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476529/original/file-20220728-20112-5znsgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476529/original/file-20220728-20112-5znsgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476529/original/file-20220728-20112-5znsgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Mature students need spaces where they can create a sense of community.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>2) <strong>Present opportunities to participate in campus communities for mature students in all their diversity:</strong> To address the feeling that they do not belong in a university setting, mature students need spaces where they can create a sense of community. This can be achieved by creating networks or centres aimed at building connections among mature students, in dialogue with existing campus networks concerned with addressing barriers and student inclusion for marginalized students. These spaces can be created online to support mature students’ packed schedules. </p>
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<p>
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<strong>
Read more:
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</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>3) <strong>Adapt program logistics to the reality of students’ multiple roles:</strong> The pandemic is an opportunity for universities to rethink how they offer student services and organize course timetables to create inclusive campuses. Student support services like academic advising could be offered in the evening to accommodate working students. Universities could also explore offering low-cost, on-campus childcare in the evenings or on weekends to assist student parents. Term beginning and end dates could be chosen to align with elementary and high-school schedules. Efforts must be made to make school work for non-traditional students, and this begins by helping students fit the various pieces of their lives together. </p>
<p>Mature women — and all mature students — often bring years of experience and fresh perspective in the classroom. It’s time for university classrooms to be more accessible for the benefit of all students.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180389/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Sorella does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Universities can support mature students by addressing stigma and ageism, creating a sense of community and adapting programs to suit their multiple roles.Heather Sorella, PhD Candidate, Educational Studies, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/832472017-09-07T13:32:19Z2017-09-07T13:32:19ZIt makes perfect sense that Princess Leia should have a PhD – but we need more female academics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185070/original/file-20170907-8353-1y9o3y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimivr/2103448839/in/photostream/">Jmivr/Disney</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When <a href="http://www.starwars.com/databank/leia-organa">Princess Leia</a> – older, wiser and tougher than ever – returned to the big screen two years ago in the latest <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/star-wars-the-force-awakens/how-star-wars-changed-movies/">Star Wars</a> instalment, <a href="http://www.starwars.com/news/category/star-wars-episode-vii-the-force-awakens">The Force Awakens</a>, fans around the globe cheered. </p>
<p>Played with great wit and charisma by the late <a href="http://carriefisher.com/about/">Carrie Fisher</a>, the fictional Leia – known variously as princess, senator and general – is leader of first the Rebel Alliance, then the Resistance, fighting the monolithic forces of oppression that threaten her galaxy. </p>
<p>But when fans learned that Leia might have a PhD, thanks to a throwaway remark made by creator George Lucas on a 2004 DVD commentary that resurfaced when I tweeted about it <a href="https://twitter.com/BeccaEHarrison/status/893483808309231616">recently</a>, adoration for the <a href="https://www.womensmarch.com/global/">Women’s March</a> poster girl exploded online and in the press.</p>
<p>The Hollywood Reporter <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-turns-princess-leia-got-her-phd-at-19-1027099">said</a> fans were “shocked, but delighted” at the news, and Teen Vogue <a href="http://www.teenvogue.com/story/star-wars-princess-leia-phd">celebrated</a> Leia as “a genius who somehow managed to get a PhD at age 19”. Even Mark Hamill, Fisher’s onscreen twin, Luke Skywalker, was “<a href="https://twitter.com/HamillHimself/status/894310259321208832">freaking out</a>” about the story. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"893483808309231616"}"></div></p>
<p>Sadly Lucas’s comment, which also appeared in Carolyn Cocca’s <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/superwomen-9781501316586/">book</a> on female superheroes, Superwomen: Gender, Power, and Representation, is not considered a canon in the Star Wars universe, so theories about Leia’s academic prowess and the subject of her thesis will not be addressed in any forthcoming films or novels.</p>
<p>That regret aside, the news sparked enormous excitement in the public imagination and raised questions about how we address women academics and how often their titles are ignored – and shows that we need more women PhDs as role models to challenge patriarchal stereotypes. Dr Organa, aka Princess Leia, is a good place to start.</p>
<p>My tweet intended to draw attention to the inequalities women face in higher education. Referring to the fact that women with PhDs are less likely than their male counterparts to be called doctor or professor, I suggested that Leia would have resented being called “princess” (a hereditary title) instead of “doctor” (one she had earned).</p>
<h2>The female empire fights back</h2>
<p>Many women will recognise the frustration, especially pertinent at the start of the academic year, when students and colleagues demote women lecturers to Miss, Ms or Mrs in emails and the classroom. A 2017 <a href="http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/jwh.2016.6044?journalCode=jwh">study</a> in the US revealed that men are more likely to be introduced as “Doctor” by colleagues, and women academics on average <a href="https://www.ucu.org.uk/genderpay">earn 12% less</a> than their male counterparts in British universities.</p>
<p>Ironically, the press response to the Leia story only emphasised the problem. While my biography on multiple websites states that I have a doctorate, I was initially presented by journalists as a “student”. The same news outlets that announced that a fictional woman character had a PhD failed to accurately report that I do, too. Indeed, one article erased both Cocca and me from the narrative, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/08/07/we-need-to-talk-about-princess-leia-phd/?utm_term=.2ad4cc424b78">attributing</a> the story to a male journalist instead, while <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4766142/Princess-Leia-earned-PhD-age-19-says-George-Lucas.html">another</a> snidely cast aspersions on my qualifications.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185072/original/file-20170907-8355-dro5od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185072/original/file-20170907-8355-dro5od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185072/original/file-20170907-8355-dro5od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185072/original/file-20170907-8355-dro5od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185072/original/file-20170907-8355-dro5od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185072/original/file-20170907-8355-dro5od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185072/original/file-20170907-8355-dro5od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The late, great Carrie Fisher who played Princess Leia/Dr Organa with great gusto.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/new-york-april-19-2016-carrie-419322421">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Unfortunately, the rare examples of women with PhDs in media aimed at general audiences do little to challenge these attitudes. Dr Barbara Gordon, also known as Batgirl in Batman, is sexualised and subject to extreme physical violence. Neither Dr Maru, the mass-murderer chemist in Wonder Woman, or Dr Elsa Schneider, the evil archaeologist in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, are positive role models. Brainy women are bad.</p>
<p>And, to add insult to injury, a woman character who actually does have a PhD in the Star Wars universe, <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-who-is-doctor-938244">Doctor Aphra</a> from Marvel’s Star Wars comic book series, has a fake doctorate that she obtains by bribing her supervisor.</p>
<p>A competent woman with a PhD, it seems, is harder to believe in than a metaphysical force that governs the universe, a weapon that harnesses a planet’s molten core, or the friendship between a man and a “walking carpet” (the big hairy co-pilot character Chewbacca for the uninitiated). </p>
<h2>The force awakens</h2>
<p>However, there is hope. Despite the biases against educated women evident in print and screen media, fans’ responses to the news about Leia’s PhD were overwhelmingly positive.</p>
<p>My Twitter notifications alone (nearly 6,500 retweets and 13,000 likes) are testament to a widespread desire to celebrate women’s academic achievements, and the need for women role models to inspire young people.</p>
<p>Having characters like Leia to look up to will enable boys, as well as girls, to challenge patriarchal notions about gender roles, and the possibilities for fan fiction to explore Leia’s education may encourage Star Wars fans to rethink who they identify as a doctor in future.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185073/original/file-20170907-9996-n7x1i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185073/original/file-20170907-9996-n7x1i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=220&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185073/original/file-20170907-9996-n7x1i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=220&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185073/original/file-20170907-9996-n7x1i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=220&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185073/original/file-20170907-9996-n7x1i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185073/original/file-20170907-9996-n7x1i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185073/original/file-20170907-9996-n7x1i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The latest incarnation of Ghostbusters saw all the main characters played by women. LEGO loved them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/brickset/27835472155/">Brickset/Flickr</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Beyond Star Wars, there are comics featuring women PhDs and grad students (<a href="https://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/09/05/jill-trent-science-sleuth-the-most-radical-comic-character-of-the-1940s/">Jill Trent</a> in Jill Trent, Science Sleuth; <a href="http://www.mysocalledsecretidentity.com/aboutcat">Cat</a> in My So-Called Secret Identity), and onscreen, the recent <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/07/ghostbusters-backlash/491834/">Ghostbusters reboot</a> depicts three successful women PhDs, which might also contribute to a shift in our attitudes toward women.</p>
<p>Of course, simply reimagining academics as white women does not solve the problems of race, disability, or sexuality that shape our understanding of authority and cause inequalities in higher education. But as the positive response to Leia’s PhD demonstrates, there is an appetite for better and more diverse representation, and change needn’t be so far, far away, after all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83247/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Harrison does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Leia’s little-known academic standing can help challenge patriarchal notions about gender roles.Rebecca Harrison, Lecturer in Film and Television, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/412292015-05-12T20:12:21Z2015-05-12T20:12:21ZSexism in science: one step back, two steps forward<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81309/original/image-20150512-19528-yrye5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The call for a male author on a paper was met with outrage from within the scientific community and the general public.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Keoni Cabral/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two postdoctoral researchers <a href="https://twitter.com/FionaIngleby/status/593408243772297216/photo/1">took to the internet</a> last month after having their research paper rejected for publication on <a href="http://retractionwatch.com/2015/04/29/its-a-mans-world-for-one-peer-reviewer-at-least/">laughably sexist grounds</a>:</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"593408243772297216"}"></div></p>
<p><a href="http://www.sussex.ac.uk/profiles/317225">Fiona Ingleby</a> of the University of Sussex, and <a href="https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/head-ml">Megan Head</a> of ANU were advised by an anonymous reviewer from journal <a href="http://www.plosone.org/">PLoS One</a> to “find one or two male biologists to work with”. </p>
<p>The reviewer supposes that having a male co-author would improve the paper, reasoning that men work more hours per week on average, “due to marginally better health and stamina”. </p>
<p>The reviewer added that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Perhaps it is not so surprising that on average male doctoral students co-author one more paper than female doctoral students, just as, on average, male doctoral students can probably run a mile a bit faster than female doctoral students.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The sound of foreheads being slapped rung out across the globe. The internet was ablaze with <a href="http://jezebel.com/female-scientists-told-to-get-a-man-to-help-them-with-t-1701245887">righteous feminist fury</a>, <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/catferguson/women-scientists-share-their-stories-of-sexism-in-publishing">collegiate sympathy</a> and words of support. </p>
<p>The results of Head and Ingleby’s research would perhaps fail to surprise the reviewer as well: after surveying 244 people with PhDs in biology, they found that on average men had better job prospects than women. They suggested institutional gender bias was to blame, though perhaps the reviewer might put that down to women’s “natural” disadvantage.</p>
<p>PLoS One has since <a href="http://blogs.plos.org/everyone/2015/05/01/plos-one-update-peer-review-investigation/">sincerely apologised</a>, sacked the reviewer, sent the manuscript to a new editor and called for the resignation of the Academic Editor who handled the review. </p>
<h2>One step back</h2>
<p>This incident confirmed two things for me: first, that sexism is alive and well within the scientific community; and second, that we’re making progress in its rectification. </p>
<p>Deplorable as the review was, its discussion and the attempted mollification of the wronged parties suggest reasons for optimism. To me, it is an indicator of very real progress within the scientific community. </p>
<p>The dominant assumption used to be that scientific research is self-correcting, and therefore incapable of bias. It was thought that the process of scientific research enables, or ought to enable, a “<a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/%7Euctytho/dfwVariousNagel.htm">view from nowhere</a>”. This is the notion that science is neutral, so it doesn’t matter who does the research because the results will be the same. </p>
<p>In living memory, arguments have floated around in the mainstream that science doesn’t need social diversity because of its <a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epistemology-social/">inbuilt neutrality</a>. This assumption squashed the potential for honest confrontation of bias within scientific research.</p>
<p>Since the mid-1990s there has been an <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/research/swafs/pdf/pub_gender_equality/meta-analysis-of-gender-and-science-research-synthesis-report.pdf">upward trend</a> of both qualitative and quantitative research into gender segregation within science, as well as <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-can-break-free-from-sexism-in-science-41110">ongoing efforts</a> to address the existing gender imbalance. </p>
<p>Gender in science has become an academic discipline in its own right, producing <a href="http://genderedinnovations.stanford.edu/links.html">primary research</a> as well as countless historical, philosophical and sociological insights from universities across the world. Head and Ingelby’s work is in fact a part of this burgeoning discipline. </p>
<p>Various organisations have formulated initiatives to address the now well-documented gender imbalance in science. The Royal Society, for example, has taken it upon itself to become better informed about <a href="http://blogs.royalsociety.org/in-verba/2014/09/24/gender-balance-among-university-research-fellows/">its own gender bias</a>. At home, the <a href="https://www.science.org.au/sage-forum">Science in Australia Gender Equity Forum</a> is engaged in continuing discussion as to how to address this problem. </p>
<p>Stanford science historian <a href="http://web.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/schiebinger.html">Londa Schiebinger</a> is the project director of a huge and ongoing research project called <a href="https://genderedinnovations.stanford.edu/">Gendered Innovations</a>, which was founded in 2009. The project provides governments and the scientific community with practical methods for sex and gender analysis in science. </p>
<p>Schiebinger has been talking about the relationship between gender and science since 1989. She <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/11/141107-gender-studies-women-scientific-research-feminist/">remarked recently</a> that even twenty years ago, “nobody wanted to listen to me”. Progress might be <a href="https://theconversation.com/study-claiming-gender-equity-in-science-technology-maths-doesnt-reflect-real-life-40314">slow</a>, but the cry for gender diversity certainly isn’t being ignored anymore. </p>
<h2>A kind of progress</h2>
<p>The public’s reaction to the PLoS One review is testament to our commitment to eradicating gender bias within the scientific community. The backlash caused by this event was not because we want to see these two particular researchers published, but because we will not abide their rejection purely on the grounds of their gender. </p>
<p>Ironically, even the blameworthy PLoS One reviewer is concerned about gender diversity in scientific research. The reviewer was concerned that the research may be in danger of “drifting too far away from empirical evidence into ideologically biased assumptions”. </p>
<p>The justification for the reviewer’s request that a man co-author the paper was patently ludicrous. Yet among the garden-variety sexist nonsense there lies a glimmer of hope. The reviewer’s comments were pointed particularly at combating potential gender bias. </p>
<p>While this review serves as one among many examples of real and variegated sexism within the scientific community, it also shows how perfectly ordinary it is to show concern or criticise a research paper for potential gender bias.</p>
<p>Over the last two decades, the public and the scientific community have come to understand how diversity enriches the quality, <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/4575.html">and the very content</a>, of scientific research. Achieving diversity within the scientific community is the best and only way to ensure that inevitable biases within research are recognised and countered. </p>
<p>While the PLoS incident was deplorable, the reception of the review by the researchers, the journal and the broader public reveals just how far we’ve come in our attitudes towards gender and its potential impact on scientific research.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41229/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Baitz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Sexism still exists in science, but a recent scandal shows that progress is being made.Emma Baitz, Postgraduate student in History and Philosophy of Science, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/411102015-05-05T15:45:52Z2015-05-05T15:45:52ZHow we can break free from sexism in science<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80421/original/image-20150505-10605-ffv8nc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">No really, it's fine!</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-238109398/stock-photo-indifferent-man-overloading-colleague-woman-with-work.html?src=csl_recent_image-1">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two women recently had their <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/sexist-peer-review-causes-storm-online/2020001.article">research paper rejected</a> by a science journal based on an incredibly sexist review of their work – an event that has caused outrage on social media. While the journal, PLOS ONE, has apologised and given the authors a second chance, not everyone is as lucky. </p>
<p>The case provides an opportunity for journals to adopt an open peer-review system – a process in which scientists evaluate the quality of other scientists’ work – so that reviewers cannot hide behind anonymity. But it also shows it is time to get tough on the widespread biases in universities.</p>
<p>Peer-reviewed publications are the main currency for academics. It is through such publications that academics tell the world about their latest research findings. Decisions about hiring – and academic career progression – are also made largely on an academic’s publication record. The main purpose of peer review is to act as quality control, making sure the work is technically sound before a paper is made available to the public. </p>
<p>Peer review is clearly something that we need to get right. Ask any researcher though, and you would be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t had an unhappy review experience.</p>
<h2>Unreported numbers?</h2>
<p>Occasionally we see dramatic examples of malpractice. In the most <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/sexist-peer-review-causes-storm-online/2020001.article">recent case</a>, a paper that investigated gender biases in academia based on a survey of PhD students in the life sciences was rejected by PLOS ONE on the basis of a single review. The review was a tirade of undisguised sexism, which suggested that the authors had misinterpreted the results because they are women. It concluded: “It would probably also be beneficial to find one or two male biologists to work with … in order to serve as a possible check against interpretations that may sometimes be drifting too far away from empirical evidence.” </p>
<p>In this case, multiple aspects of the peer-review system failed. The academic editor assigned to the paper was an immunologist, whereas the paper was in the social sciences, bringing into question the editor’s expertise and ability to choose suitable reviewers. Another problem was that only a single review was obtained – usually two or three reviewers are sought to try to obtain balance. It also seems that the editor had not carefully read the review and/or paper, as the review was forwarded without criticism. The editor’s rejection note read:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The qulaity (sic) of the manuscript is por (sic) with issues on methodologies and presentation of resulst (sic). A precise bibliographic search will be useful to improve the manuscript. A clear summary of the issues concerning the quality of this manuscript is given by one reviewer.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Rightly, the journal has issued an apology, the paper is back under review and the original editor and reviewer are <a href="http://news.sciencemag.org/scientific-community/2015/04/sexist-peer-review-elicits-furious-twitter-response">no longer on the books</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80423/original/image-20150505-16612-1od0g62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80423/original/image-20150505-16612-1od0g62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80423/original/image-20150505-16612-1od0g62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80423/original/image-20150505-16612-1od0g62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80423/original/image-20150505-16612-1od0g62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80423/original/image-20150505-16612-1od0g62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80423/original/image-20150505-16612-1od0g62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There may be a number of unreported cases out there.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?searchterm=scientific%20journals&autocomplete_id=14308232175764679000&language=en&lang=en&search_source=&safesearch=1&version=llv1&media_type=&media_type2=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=202908463">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But while this case was corrected, <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/catferguson/women-scientists-share-their-stories-of-sexism-in-publishing">many are not</a>. A similar level of online rage was directed at the Royal Society which earlier this year awarded only two of 43 fellowship grants to female applicants. By their own admission, this bias appears to be <a href="http://blogs.royalsociety.org/in-verba/2014/09/24/gender-balance-among-university-research-fellows/">getting worse</a> each year.</p>
<h2>The bigger picture</h2>
<p>These recent examples speak of gender biases that are routinely found in academia, whether in <a href="http://www.albany.edu/%7Escifraud/data/sci_fraud_3943.html">grant allocation</a>, <a href="http://curt-rice.com/2014/03/18/where-women-dont-belong-2-strategies-you-and-i-both-use-to-keep-women-out-of-science/">hiring</a>, <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/109/41/16474.long">mentoring</a>, <a href="http://www.academic.umn.edu/wfc/rec%20letter%20study%202009.pdf">reference letters</a>, <a href="http://aei.pitt.edu/46079/1/she_figures_2009.pdf">salaries</a>, <a href="http://sciencenordic.com/gender-bias-leading-journals">invited journal articles</a> or even <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10755-014-9313-4">student feedback</a>. </p>
<p>We also know that gender biases are only the tip of the iceberg – in particular remarkably little attention is given to racial discrimination. There are substantially fewer studies on racial bias in academia, but there are similar examples of <a href="http://cloakinginequity.com/2012/10/15/racial-bias-in-peer-review/">dubious peer review</a> and there is evidence of racism in <a href="http://www.researchgate.net/publication/222569225_Is_there_racism_in_economic_research">article citations</a> and <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2063742">willingness to mentor students</a> simply based on name.</p>
<p>We must use these cases to look at how we can improve the situation. Many journals (including PLOS ONE) operate a single-blind review system where the reviewer can see the authors’ names, but the authors never see the reviewer’s name. In some disciplines double-blind review is standard, where the authors’ names are hidden from the reviewers. </p>
<p>This approach does address some of the problems, but in practice it is often possible to guess who the authors are. Some <a href="http://peerj.com/blog/post/43139131280/the-reception-to-peerjs-open-peer-review/">journals</a> now offer open review, where reviewers sign their comments with their name and/or the review is made publicly accessible. A further step still is to have post-publication review, where all articles are first published and then peer review occurs in public. Indeed <a href="http://blogs.royalsociety.org/publishing/fssc-peer-review-with-elizabeth-marincola/">PLOS ONE recently announced</a> that they are aiming to move towards open review. </p>
<p>Besides innovations in the peer-review system, we must also all look in the mirror. The system is made up of individuals. It is us who are biased. Studies show that women are <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/109/41/16474.long">no less likely to discriminate against women</a> – and those of under-represented races are <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2063742">no less likely to have racial biases</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases">Cognitive biases are so numerous and universal</a> that at the very least we should <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22822416">make ourselves aware</a> of how deeply they can run. <a href="https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/uk/">Online tests</a> of implicit bias are a great way to start gaining some self-awareness. Institutional <a href="http://sitemaker.umich.edu/advance/stride_committee">training</a> and national <a href="http://eng.kifinfo.no/">programmes</a> to address biases will undoubtedly also help.</p>
<p>In academia, strong hierarchies and nepotism compound problems associated with biases. For faster change, each and every one of us need to act as exemplars – admitting to our own mistakes, calling out those of others and <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/acv.12032/full">monitoring biases in journals</a> and institutions.</p>
<p>The stakes are higher than most of us realise. Biases in academia <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/11/141107-gender-studies-women-scientific-research-feminist/">distort research outcomes – and can even damage human health</a>. If we continue to ignore our biases then we will continue to stifle the insight we could be gaining from a more diverse set of collaborators. Ultimately we all suffer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41110/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amber Griffiths currently receives funding from an EU Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship, and the Natural Environment Research Council. She is an academic editor at PLoS ONE (but has not been directly involved in the case discussed), and a former colleague of Ingleby and Head (the submitted article authors) and so has seen the full review.</span></em></p>Sexist peer review case sheds light on the need to tackle gender and racial discrimination in universities.Amber Griffiths, Lecturer in Natural Environment, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/329962014-10-15T11:25:29Z2014-10-15T11:25:29ZSexist student chant raises wider concern about appraisals of female lecturers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61719/original/tw952gmw-1413308162.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What feedback awaits?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-203936089/stock-photo-business-woman-lecturing-at-conference-audience-at-the-lecture-hall.html?src=F6S2wG7E-j19Me0vmumVSw-1-67">Lecturer via Matej Kastelic/Shutterstock </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The way that newcomers are initiated into a group can reveal a lot about that group’s values. So what does the sexist ditty <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/oct/08/freshers-students-sing-necrophiliac-sexist-violent-chant">recently chanted by freshers students</a> at the University of Nottingham tell us about universities as places to study and work? The rhyme was an overtly hostile statement about women being of use and value only in so far as they serve as sexual objects for men. The chant says that it doesn’t even matter whether women are alive, since even as dead bodies, they can still fulfil a sexual function. </p>
<p>The students who chanted this ditty would doubtless say it was only a joke – they do not really want to rape a dead woman. But such “jesting” constitutes a symbolic statement about the social territory these students are entering, and the terms on which “outsiders” – those sociologist Nirmal Puwar <a href="http://www.gold.ac.uk/sociology/staff/puwar/">describes as “space invaders”</a> – can be included. </p>
<p>Through this and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/womens-blog/2014/oct/10/10-things-female-students-face-university-misogyny-banter">similarly sexist freshers’ activities</a> at other universities, female students are aggressively reminded that this is a culture in which males are dominant and “femininity” is devalued. To question this is to lack a sense of humour, to overreact, be unreasonable, silly, hysterical, in short, to be a “woman”, and so lack the qualification for belonging.</p>
<h2>Marketising performance</h2>
<p>The Nottingham students’ chant <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-29558952">was condemned</a> by the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/oct/08/freshers-students-sing-necrophiliac-sexist-violent-chant">university’s management</a> and the <a href="http://www.impactnottingham.com/2014/10/exclusive-video-students-taught-graphic-chant-in-freshers-week/">student union</a>, who stress that only a small minority of students were involved. But the impact is far-reaching, particularly for female students who have to share halls of residence, lecture theatres, and seminar rooms with male students who may have joined in this chanting. It is also worrying for the female members of university staff who have to serve them. </p>
<p>Now that <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/oct/12/have-universities-been-privatised-by-stealth">universities are private corporations</a> as much as seats of learning, student appraisal of their “learning experience” is deployed as a marketing tool, and lecturers are forcefully enjoined by management to ensure that <a href="https://theconversation.com/tick-box-surveys-arent-the-only-way-to-measure-student-satisfaction-28780">students are “satisfied”</a>. Student evaluation of teaching is already significant for promotion and job security, and set to become more so in coming years. </p>
<p>The young men who initiated and participated in the chant at Nottingham and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/womens-blog/2014/oct/10/10-things-female-students-face-university-misogyny-banter">similar sexist fresher activities</a> may be censured as intolerably “laddish” by university spokespeople. Yet in a few months time, as they complete their evaluations of the performance of members of staff, the same university management may treat their opinion as that of a “valued customer”.</p>
<p>Universities have set in place a system which allows female lecturers’ careers to be influenced by their ability to “satisfy”, among others, young men who view women in the terms expressed in this and similar chants. This should give pause for thought about the implications of this marketised system for equal opportunities. </p>
<h2>Baggage of assumptions</h2>
<p>The sexist chanters may have been a small minority, but many students – probably the majority – arrive at university with social baggage that includes a set of assumptions about <a href="http://cfd153.cfdynamics.net/images/journals/docs/pdf/ts/Jul10TSFeature.pdf">gender</a>, age, <a href="http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2014/04/25/higher-education-a-market-for-racism/">racial minority groups</a>, or gay people, and <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2013/10/02/student-evaluations-of-teaching-are-probably-biased-does-it-matter">stereotypes about who has the authority</a> to impart knowledge. These assumptions and stereotypes are not the only basis upon which they evaluate their lecturers’ performance, but it is hard to imagine that they play no role in that appraisal. </p>
<p>In the case of women and racial minority staff, open-ended comments on questionnaires for students to evaluate teaching sometimes makes the role of these stereotypes explicit. In my 24 years of university teaching, I have seen students make sexist remarks on female and gay lecturers’ dress, bodies and “hotness” on such questionnaires, as well as racist comments on black and Asian lecturers’ idioms of speech and accents, and on their qualification to teach on subjects which are in fact their research specialisms. </p>
<h2>Prejudices should be challenged</h2>
<p>But where positive assessment is linked to lecturers who are seen to embody the authority to lecture (they are older, straight, male or white), there will be no “give away” offensive comments to expose such bias. Whiteness, maleness and straightness is unremarkable in a straight white male space – it’s only the bodies that don’t “belong” that get scrutinised as bodies, rather than as academics. </p>
<p>There is, of course, nothing new about the fact that some students freely express overtly denigrating sexism, racism or homophobia – such behaviour has a long and sorry history. Nor is there anything new about gender, race and sexual inequalities in university workplaces. But there are new reasons to be disturbed by these phenomena. </p>
<p>In the context of privatised, market-driven higher education, perhaps the student “customers” won’t want to pay £9,000 a year to have their prejudices challenged. If their prejudices help to shape the face of British universities, it might ensure that they continue to remain a white, straight, male terrain. </p>
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<p>Next read: <a href="https://theconversation.com/only-17-of-uk-universities-are-run-by-women-why-27474">Only 17% of UK universities are run by women – why?</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32996/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia O'Connell Davidson currently holds a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship for a project titled Modern Slavery and the Margins of Freedom: Debtors, Detainees and Children</span></em></p>The way that newcomers are initiated into a group can reveal a lot about that group’s values. So what does the sexist ditty recently chanted by freshers students at the University of Nottingham tell us…Julia O'Connell Davidson, Professor of Sociology, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/254182014-04-15T10:00:14Z2014-04-15T10:00:14ZRape and death threats are all too common in feminist circles, just ask Laura Bates<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46452/original/xdq74q4d-1397554246.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Laura Bates has received rape and death threats since launching the Everyday Sexism project</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">TED</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>From jokes to rape, there have been nearly 60,000 posts by women recounting their experiences of sexism and sexist violence since journalist and feminist <a href="http://www.tedxeastend.com/speakers/laura-bates">Laura Bates</a> launched her <a href="http://everydaysexism.com/index.php/about">Everyday Sexism project</a> in April 2012. Now the material has been <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Everyday-Sexism-Laura-Bates/dp/1471131572">collected for the first time in a book</a> of the same name. </p>
<p>I’ve been familiar with the project for some time. Yet the sheer pervasiveness and repetitiveness which emerges when the material is presented in book form, accompanied by Bates’ clear, angry, witty, feminist commentary, is refreshing, depressing and enraging.</p>
<h2>If this sounds familiar …</h2>
<p>Everyday Sexism also feels incredibly familiar – and not simply because of the inevitable echoes with my own experiences. I have read this book before. </p>
<p>It is <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dear-Clare-This-Women-About/dp/0091749158">the book Clare Short MP wrote in 1991</a>, comprised of letters that women had written in support of her anti-Page Three campaign. </p>
<p>It is Sue Wise and Liz Stanley’s <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Georgie-Porgie-Harassment-Everyday-Pandora/dp/0863580181">1987 book Georgie Porgie</a> where, like Bates, they talk about the “drip drip” effect of sexual harassment in reducing women’s aspirations, modifying their behaviour and creating a climate of everyday fearfulness. </p>
<p>It is <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Surviving-Sexual-Violence-Feminist-Perspectives/dp/0745604633">Liz Kelly’s Surviving Sexual Violence</a>, which in 1988 introduced the notion of a “continuum” of sexual violence: a concept Bates uses to powerful effect. </p>
<p>It is <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Pornography_and_Sexual_Violence.html?id=7wjaAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">Everywoman’s 1988 publication</a> of the civil rights hearings on pornography organised by the late Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon. There too, women and girls talked about how men’s everyday use of porn affected their lives and sense of self, even before the ubiquity of internet porn.</p>
<p>I could go on … </p>
<p>In no way does this detract from the significance of Bates’ book. But it does raise important familiar questions about how the knowledge of the <a href="http://www.britannica.com/women/article-216008">second wave of feminism</a> has been publicly forgotten. This is despite the fact that <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.womensaid.org.uk%2Fcore%2Fcore_picker%2Fdownload.asp%3Fid%3D1963&ei=47NLU-jyIc7G7AaIu4FY&usg=AFQjCNGRok-BBByr3zAFU6bQdeYl18hnCw&sig2=uw8FHs6XT1RN15i0kiuoJg&bvm=bv.64542518,d.d2k">feminist organisations set up in the 1970s</a> to support women experiencing male violence are now well known, depressingly well used and horribly under-funded.</p>
<h2>Bates and the old guard</h2>
<p>Refreshingly, Bates herself does not perform this act of erasure: in a <a href="http://www.glasgowwestend.co.uk/aye-write-glasgows-book-festival-2014-laura-bates-and-anne-dickson-everyday-feminism-and-how-to-fix-it/">discussion at Glasgow’s Aye Write festival</a> last week, she clearly acknowledged the legacy of the second wave. Unlike so many proclamations of the rebirth of feminism in the past two decades <a href="http://www.avoiceformen.com/feminism/the-everyday-sexism-project-key-element-in-fourth-wave-feminism/">this fourth wave</a>, as heralded by her publishers, is not premised on the death of the feminism before it. </p>
<p>Bates’ book is the 21st-century equivalent of the <a href="http://www.womensliberation.org/priorities/feminist-consciousness-raising">consciousness-raising groups</a> of the Women’s Liberation Movement. It still has the feel of “newness”, of capturing an epidemic of previously untold proportions. The accessibility of the project and its incredible public profile mean it is almost certainly reaching women who missed out on feminism’s previous waves. </p>
<p>Most heartbreaking are the accounts from women who have kept abuse secret for years, decades. Feminist analysis of male violence has been around long enough that this shouldn’t have happened. But in the face of media misrepresentation, the pervasiveness of everyday sexism and the endurance of patriarchy (a concept no less real because academically unfashionable) it shouldn’t be a surprise that it has.</p>
<h2>The university context</h2>
<p>For those of us working in universities, Everyday Sexism poses a number of challenges. It gives grim insight into the pressures our female students and many colleagues face. We still need to know more, not only about campus experiences but also how our institutions respond to them. </p>
<p>When women (and men) are brave enough to come forward, we need to ensure the response they receive within our institutions is appropriate to the century we live in. Not a big ask, although you wouldn’t think it to read many of the experiences in this book. </p>
<p>Academics also have a role to play in following up on the research agenda this book sets. One urgent area for investigation is contemporary feminists’ experiences of the backlash. While backlashes have existed for as long as feminism, the way that backlash is now experienced is new. </p>
<p>In the first month of the Everyday Sexism project Bates received up to 200 messages a day threatening her with rape and murder. No-one has yet been charged in relation to any of these threats. </p>
<p>Bates’ experiences may be extreme, though certainly not unique. In my own circle, hardly a month goes by without one of my feminist friends sharing a rape or death threat they’ve received. While these are sometimes worn as a kind of badge of honour – it shows we’re doing something right - none of us should have to put up with this. </p>
<p>Ignoring the trolls may be useful advice at some level, but having a more systematic account of exactly what feminist public figures endure as a group would be an important first step in understanding the bigger picture behind these anecdotes. Everyday sexists should no longer be able to hide in plain sight. Bates’ book makes it clear that we all have a role to play in exposing them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25418/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Boyle does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From jokes to rape, there have been nearly 60,000 posts by women recounting their experiences of sexism and sexist violence since journalist and feminist Laura Bates launched her Everyday Sexism project…Karen Boyle, Chair in Feminist Media Studies, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.