ERIC Number: EJ1282194
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Nov
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0004-9441
EISSN: N/A
Using Bridges Made by Others as Scaffolding and Establishing Footings for Those That Follow: Indigenous Women in the Academy
Fredericks, Bronwyn; White, Nereda
Australian Journal of Education, v62 n3 p243-255 Nov 2018
The first recorded Aboriginal person to graduate with an undergraduate qualification from any Australian university was Aboriginal woman Margaret Williams-Weir in 1959 (Melbourne University, 2018). Williams-Weir graduated with a Diploma in Education. There have now been six decades of graduating Indigenous Australian women in the discipline of education, and many other disciplines. In this article, we explore Indigenous women's presence in higher education through the narratives of our lives as Aboriginal women within education and the lives of other Indigenous women, noting their achievements and challenges. We acknowledge that while the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women participating in university study and becoming engaged in education as a discipline at undergraduate and postgraduate levels has increased, we are still significantly underrepresented. Similarly, while we have seen increases in Indigenous university staff within the education discipline, the employment of Indigenous academics has not reached parity with non-Indigenous academics levels and too few are employed in the professoriate and in senior management positions. We will show how we would not have been able to develop our education careers within higher education without the bridges built by those like Dr Williams-Weir and others who went before us. We will share how we have worked to establish the footings for those Indigenous women who will follow us and others. In this way, we work within the context that is for the now and the future.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Females, Indigenous Populations, College Students, Womens Education, Barriers, Minority Group Students, Pacific Islanders, Educational History, Gender Bias, Racial Bias, Ethnicity, Equal Education, College Faculty, Workshops
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A