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The aim of this paper is to describe senior lecturers' experiences of and reflections on the influence of gender on their work and career possibilities.

Eight informants, four female and four male university teachers, representing different schools at a Swedish university college were interviewed. A qualitative content method was used for analysis.

The findings revealed that the lecturers at the university college had an experience of academic gender neutrality. The findings also pointed to experiences of gendered practice that had been internalized and made normal. It also revealed that the lecturers did not consider or reflect on the gap between experiences of and reflections on gender neutrality and gendered practice.

Even if the number of informants is small, the findings have something important to tell about the gap between gender‐neutral academia and practice in academia.

The findings imply that although the Swedish model of equality work has been successful in many ways, a confrontation on the micro‐political level is required to achieve a gender equality workplace environment and to increase women's career possibilities.

The purpose of this chapter is to combine research findings around gender bias and the challenges women face in academia, and to present a unified conceptual framework. Ample research indicates that the issue is far from sufficiently addressed. Even in cases where policies are in place, mediocre outcomes are observed. Fewer women climb the ladder of academic progression all the way up to senior positions, especially in certain institutions and certain disciplines.

After thoroughly reviewing the literature, the authors integrate and organize the different multifaceted causes that appear to obstruct women in academia. They propose a scheme that divides between contextual and non-contextual factors, emphasizing their interplay.

Even when policies are in place, they appear to have limited results, because they mainly address isolated factors rather than taking a multifaceted, integrative approach.

Future research should further examine the interplay of contextual and non-contextual factors by combining multiple variables that contribute to gender bias in academia.

Policy-making should consider both contextual and non-contextual factors, thus providing more integrative solutions and taking a broader perspective on the issue.

Despite the ample and rising amount of research findings, there is no coherent framework to adequately include all the factors that contribute to gender bias in academia. By integrating and organizing the different, multifaceted causes already pointed out by previous findings, the authors hope to contribute to future research with specific variables to test and correlate, as well as to the formulation of more sophisticated policies.

Research indicates that faculty of color in the United States face numerous challenges in the academy. To complicate their experiences further, children significantly impact academics’ work. Additional difficulties can arise in balancing work with familial responsibilities. Indeed, strategies to navigate parental obligations while engaging in professional activities are seldom examined among minority parents, across genders and institution types. In response, the current study investigates the intersectionality of race, gender, and parenthood on navigating a work–life balance in academia. This study examines 13 male and female minority parents from an array of institutions and explores their strategies for navigating professional advancement while managing familial obligations.

Our data suggest that parents of color often develop timesaving strategies to complete their work more efficiently. However, in order to do so, they tend to engage in professional and social isolation and to recalibrate personal expectations of work and accomplishments. Of importance, the study uncovered significant gender differences. While fathers faced comparable challenges, the findings indicate that familial responsibilities can disadvantage women more so by impacting their ability to foster professional relationships and potentially harm their emotional well-being. While most faculty of color face difficulties in the workplace, we argue that those with children, especially mothers, face additional challenges that should be addressed by home institutions to foster more equitable opportunities for professional growth.

The issue of gender inequality in the Italian universities and academic context does not seem to be particularly debated and is really rare. Starting from this “lack of interest”, the paper aims to inquire into the “state-of-the-art” of existing inequality in the scientific and academic path of Italian female scholars and academia, answering the following research question: Is discrimination between women and men linked to the number of scientific contributions in periodicals and their presence within academic boards of scientific accounting associations and journals in Italy?

The methodology is primarily developed through a deductive analysis of the literature strands concerning gender accounting, accounting in academia and the role of women in universities and academia. Second, within the inductive perspective, the authors have chosen to inquire into the scientific publications of women on the oldest Italian journal in the accounting field – the Rivista Italiana di Ragioneria e di Economia Aziendale (RIREA). Subsequently, the position and career of women were analysed in academia investigating their presence and role within the boards of a sample of Italian journals and the main Italian accounting scientific associations

Accordingly, this paper concentrates on gender inequalities in university and academia in Italy and on eventual obstacles that get in the way of the existence of scientific contributions in journals and of career progress of those women who carry on scholarly work in accounting.

The analysis confirms the need to open more space for women at the summits of political, economic and cultural institutions, including accounting academia and scientific journals. The paper has some limitations concerning the consideration of only Italian journals and academic associations. Then, we will develop the analysis in comparative terms, as attention will be addressed on the participation in scientific committees and boards of some of the major international scientific associations of accounting. Moreover, we will consider the narrative approach describing the stories of Italian women and accounting scholars to carefully investigate the reasons for this persistent discrimination.

The innovative contribution of the paper is due to the fact that the authors are unaware of previous studies aimed at investigating if female accounting scholars are under-represented compared to their male colleagues within the top positions of the most prestigious Italian accounting associations and scientific journals. Previous research also did not investigate the existence of correlation between Italian women’s scientific productivity, their under-representation within academia and scientific career.

Sweden, as a country based on extremely high secular and self-expression values, serve as an example that somewhat differ from other countries internationally, when it comes to educational leadership curriculum. The chapter takes its starting point at the governmental decision for Swedish universities to gender-mainstream their organisations, something that affects the educational leadership curriculum. To be able to discuss this, I present three research studies on gendering leader identity development processes and gender equality strategies in the Swedish higher education setting. In a longitudinal study of the process of leader identity development, the main result was the emergence of a gendering process in the discourse on academic leadership. At the end of the leadership assignment period, leader identity was described in differing terms at subject positions held by women and men, respectively. In a separate study on female heads of research-heavy departments, three conflicting subject positions appeared that showed different strategies when leaders were of the female sex: (a) a gender-conscious position, (b) a gender-neutral or gender-unconscious position and (c) a position of sex discrimination experience. In a third, large national study, based on horizontal analysis of gender equality in Swedish higher education institutions (HEIs), was found that universities internally consist of different worlds when it comes to the possibility of making academic careers and in how male- and female-dominated academic disciplines explain gender inequality and strategies to handle this. Results from these studies will be discussed, in light of the striving for (gender) equal and just organisations, since gender equality is an important aspect of Swedish educational leadership curriculum.

In a world where some (predominantly male) colleagues gets undue credit and airtime in academia and some women struggle to juggle work and family responsibilities, this chapter provides some reflections about the author’s own personal journey as a female early career academic, as well as the author’s recent experience in applying for an academic promotion. Appended within this chapter are also some advice and tips from other female colleagues who have recently been successful in their applications for promotion. The author is only a drop in the ocean of academia but hopefully these reflections will help other female colleagues who are trying to navigate the academic world.

Female leadership is a still largely unexplored aspect of the higher education (HE) field. While it is known that barriers to entry exist, few studies have addressed female leadership and have investigated what makes a female academic seek leadership, what their experiences are and how they perceive their positions and the associated responsibilities. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this lacuna as it provides a qualitative account of female academic leaders’ perceptions regarding their positions in the Middle East (ME) context. It also outlines their main tasks as administrative and academic leaders.

Data collection and analysis took place according to grounded theory principles, as outlined in this study. Participants were selected according to theoretical sampling principles, access and willingness to participate.

The findings illustrate a core concept, the female academic leadership mindset in the ME, and three emergent concepts that address the main shared perceptions, which are leadership experiences and expectations, differential treatment and work-life balance. The first discusses the different types of leadership and how female leaders experienced their positions, the second addresses the perceived differential treatment female leaders experience and the last addresses the dual pressure of work and home responsibilities that many female leaders have to deal with. Interestingly, several participants felt that fellow females were often unsupportive, which might also provide an explanation as to why women still experience obstacles.

This study provides in-depth exploratory accounts of female leaders in various Middle Eastern HE sectors, and gives insight into leadership-related perceptions. Furthermore, it explores the effect of the Middle Eastern cultural context on aspects of female leadership.

This paper aims to investigate the career experiences of female academics in a Western and in an Indian cultural setting in order to gain an in‐depth understanding of the factors contributing to their career progression. The paper also examines the factors such as national culture, gender stereotypes and leadership, work and family conflict, mentoring and informal networks that impact on the career progression of women academics in two different cultural settings, namely Mauritius and Australia.

Thirty in‐depth interviews from two universities were used.

The findings illustrate that the barriers to progression are remarkably similar to women from both universities despite their different cultural background. Women in the Mauritian context face a considerably more conservative cultural climate that may negatively impact on their career progression. Women from both cultural settings face significant barriers to career progression in their academic roles.

This paper compares Australian and Mauritian women academics experience in academia. The paper also offers practical guidance that can be used by management and women academics to facilitate career progression of women in academia.

What is it about academia anyway? We profess to hate it, spend endless amounts of time complaining about it, and yet we in academia will do practically anything to stay. The pay may be low, job security elusive, and in the end, it's not the glamorous work we envisioned it would be. Yet, it still holds fascination and interest for us. This is an article about American academic fiction. By academic fiction, I mean novels whosemain characters are professors, college students, and those individuals associated with academia. These works reveal many truths about the higher education experience not readily available elsewhere. We learn about ourselves and the university community in which we work.

Although progress has been made, women faculty of color (i.e. American Indian/Alaska Native, African American, Hispanic, and Asian/Asian Pacific Islanders) continues to experience a number of challenges in the academy. Without proper supports and strategies many of these women will leave the academy prematurely or will not be successful in their quest for promotion and tenure. The purpose of this chapter is to identify the challenges these women encounter, as well as the strategies they adopt in response to these challenges. In doing so, the authors argue that a strong sense of self-efficacy is a core trait of successful women faculty of color; a trait that cuts across all racial and ethnic groups. The authors conclude with implications for fostering support for women faculty of color, as well as recommendations for future research.