TY  - CHAP
AB  - Purpose We evaluate the use of metaphors in academic literature on women in academia. Utilizing the work of Husu (2001) and the concept of intersectionality, we explore the ways in which notions of structure and/or agency are reflected in metaphors and the consequences of this.Methodology/approach The research comprised an analysis of 113 articles on women in academia and a subanalysis of 17 articles on women in Political Science published in academic journals between 2004 and 2013.Findings In the case of metaphors about academic institutions, the most popular metaphors are the glass ceiling, the leaky pipeline, and the old boys’ network, and, in the case of metaphors about women academics, strangers/outsiders and mothers/housekeepers.Usage of metaphors in the literature analyzed suggests that the literature often now works with a more nuanced conception of the structure/agency problematic than at the time Husu was writing: instead of focusing on either structures or agents in isolation, the literature has begun to look more critically at the interplay between them, although this may not be replicated at a disciplinary level.Originality/value We highlight the potential benefits of interdependent metaphors which are able to reflect more fully the structurally situated nature of (female) agency. These metaphors, while recognizing the (multiple and intersecting) structural constraints that women may face both within and outwith the academy, are able to capture more fully the different forms female power and agency can take. Consequently, they contribute both to the politicization of problems that female academics may face and to the stimulation of collective responses for a fairer and better academy.
VL  - 20
SN  - 978-1-78560-078-4, 978-1-78560-079-1/1529-2126
DO  - 10.1108/S1529-212620150000020022
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-212620150000020022
AU  - Amery Fran
AU  - Bates Stephen
AU  - Jenkins Laura
AU  - Savigny Heather
PY  - 2015
Y1  - 2015/01/01
TI  - Metaphors on Women in Academia: A Review of the Literature, 2004–2013
T2  - At the Center: Feminism, Social Science and Knowledge
T3  - Advances in Gender Research
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 245
EP  - 267
Y2  - 2024/04/23
ER  -