In this text, with an autobiographical methodology, we consider what it has meant for us to position ourselves as feminists in academia, inhabiting research lines and spaces in the field of Gender Studies. In our context, where universities are divided into teaching departments based on areas of knowledge, placing ourselves in a peripheral,…

Our article employs a feminist perspective to interpret ethnographic data on soft skills programmes (SSPs) for female staff in Higher Education (HE). We use the story of Arachne as a metaphor for how, under neoliberalism, women are instructed to create local 'nets of power,' only to find themselves tangled in a web of conflicting expectations. Our…

At the time of writing, the reach of #MeToo continues unfolding. Frank revelations about experiences of sexual harassment and sexual assault reach well into the academic sphere, with stories emerging across disciplines, regions, and statuses within the academy. The momentum and urgency of this moment carries with it the potential for seriously…

Drawing on data from qualitative interviews with students who had attempted to report staff sexual misconduct to their higher education institutions in the UK, the article analyses interviewees' experiences of 'grooming' and boundary-blurring behaviours from academic staff where the possibility for consent was affected by the power imbalances…

In the United States, the academic discipline of higher education has emerged as a site in which transgender scholars have begun to engage. Transgender scholars have begun to disrupt the normative logics of epistemological trans oppression, forcing those in higher education to contend with us, our work, and the possibilities therein. And yet, the…

This paper situates sexual harassment and violence in the neoliberal university. Using data from a 'composite ethnography' representing twelve years of research, I argue that institutional inaction on these issues reflects how they are 'reckoned up' in the context of gender and other structures. The impact of disclosure is projected in market…

Gender inequality prevails in academia; there is currently no review on the barriers and facilitators to success for female academics in UK Higher Education. We conducted a systematic search identifying 32 papers addressing this issue. Narrative review revealed six themes: networks (prohibiting the inclusion of women), home-work balance (where…

This article centres on female students' reasoning about their emotional (re)actions during the process of academic becoming. It builds on an ethnographical study of students' subjectivity processes at a jointly run Sino-Danish university in Beijing. The article draws on a theoretical framework called "emotional reasoning," bridging Sara…

Recent changes within the higher education system have affected the balance of academic labour. This article is based on interviews with 25 women lecturers in Education Faculties at Swedish Universities. It specifically addresses the shifting balance in terms of the increased separation between teaching and research in relation to gender, and the…

As universities face unprecedented pressure to respond to sexual violence, this article critically analyses how they engage with intersectionality in their responses. Based on research in the Canadian province of Ontario, I demonstrate that universities' commitments to intersectionality often fail to translate into practice. This failure results…

In this paper, we offer a critique of neoliberal power from the perspective of the gendered, sexualised, raced and classed politics of motherhood in English universities. By using dialogical auto-ethnographic methods to examine our own past experiences as full-time employed mother-academics, we demonstrate how feminist academic praxis can not only…

This paper explores the perceptions and experiences of women academics in the UK, participating in a small-scale qualitative study exploring career progression and encountered institutional obstacles. The accounts are considered in terms of both disadvantageous institutional strategies and interpersonal ones governing day-to-day working…

This paper presents the work of three researchers in a self-study on researcher positionality using the reflective practice and pedagogy of correspondence as preparation for future work with mapuche women in Chile. We start from the assumption that research with and on indigenous groups has a historical debt to consider given the ways in which it…

This article draws on findings from my doctoral research to exemplify some of the difficulties I encountered when interviewing 20 female professors and subsequently writing about their life histories. In this article, I discuss how I addressed the issues of representing and positioning my participants, and I reflect on the power dynamics present…

This paper develops a dialogical encounter between northern-inspired theorisations of gender and Vietnam's historical and cultural differentiation identified through the presence of matriarchy in ancient societies and its popularity in folklore and contemporary politics. The article draws on interviews with 12 senior women from 8 universities in…