Hélène Cixous is perhaps best known for her paper, 'The Laugh of the Medusa' (1976) and her literary contributions outside academia. In this paper, we pick up a lesser known Cixous text, 'Le Sexe ou la tête?' that offers an interesting and provocative perspective on the traps associated with being feminine in a masculine environment. As we…

There has been and continues to be a substantial amount of work done to encourage, support, and retain women in mathematics. However, very little has been written about the faculty leading these gender-based initiatives, most of whom are women. This dynamic--women advocating on behalf of other women--is connected to identity-based activist…

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,…

Gender bias underlying discrimination against women are particularly salient in STEM higher education. Complementing top-down measures to mitigate these issues identified in the extant literature, we aim to highlight a complementary bottom-up approach. First, to elicit gender stereotypes and gender bias in STEM, we conducted a group concept…

Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism pose a unique experience, especially when one is readily identifiable as a Muslim through hijab, a head covering worn by some Muslim women. Although frequently conflated with racial identity, Muslim women are uniquely impacted by the intersection of race, gender, and religious identity. In this paper, I explore…

Replete with espoused discourses of equality, diversity and inclusion within public bodies, is the UK, wherein lauded initiatives reward its universities' commitments to increasing the access and positioning of 'women' in higher education. This paper contributes a critical quantitative analysis of the state of representation and participation of…

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…

This research focuses on the absence of women among academic staff in physics. To explore the causes of this gender imbalance, we focus on the decision-making junction between obtaining a Ph.D. diploma and pursuing a postdoctoral position. We use the mixed-methods paradigm, combining a nationwide representative survey of Ph.D. students in Israel…

Across the contemporary global higher education sector, there is an increased focus on gender and the academic profession, particularly inequalities. Previous studies construct a clear picture of the academy as an unfriendly profession for women, particularly highlighting the challenge to 'belong'. A growing body of literature demonstrates how…

This article aims to address the fairness of promotion evaluation (appointments to the rank of full professor) process in Canadian business schools as perceived by tenured business female faculty. Our analysis is underscored by two studies with two different data collection methods (survey data analysis, policy content analysis) and driven by…

Background: We present an analysis of interviews with 27 self-identified progressive white-male physics faculty and graduate students discussing race and gender in physics. White cis men dominate most STEM fields and are particularly overrepresented in positions of status and influence (i.e., full professors, chairs, deans, etc.), positioning them…

A recognised challenge for women in higher education learning and teaching is of rightfully claiming leadership. Higher education processes for recruitment, promotion, awards, grants and fellowship are founded on an ability to document and convincingly present one's leadership contribution. The focus is on evidencing from a traditional, formal…

In this article, we, four Asian American Motherscholars, share our collective resistance and resilience and our commitment to practicing solidarity through the intentional centering of radical love in our interactions with one another and in our professional lives. Through collaborative autoethnographic analysis grounded in a framework of Asian…

Since the inception of the "Woman, Life, Freedom" revolution in September 2022, following the tragic death of Mahsa Amini, universities in Iran have been at the forefront of resistance. In response, the government has attempted to silence opposition by exerting control over universities and engaging in waves of arrests and imprisonments.…

This quantitative and qualitative study explores the leadership challenges for women academics in the Hong Kong academy. It is informed by the theoretical lens of intersectionality and Mohanty's feminism, which seeks to give a voice to women in different nations and regions. Findings show that the majority of women did not feel supported to enter…