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Exploring the Experiences of Women Academics in England: The Combined Effects of Societal, Structural and Life-Stage Factors

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Title: Exploring the Experiences of Women Academics in England: The Combined Effects of Societal, Structural and Life-Stage Factors
Language: English
Authors: Aimee Quickfall (ORCID 0000-0001-6250-3189)
Source: Higher Education Quarterly. 2025 79(1).
Availability: Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 12
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: Women Faculty, Foreign Countries, Social Influences, Teacher Attitudes, Sex Role, Females, Gender Bias, Power Structure, Educational Policy, Universities, Teacher Characteristics, Teaching Experience, Work Attitudes
Geographic Terms: United Kingdom (England)
DOI: 10.1111/hequ.12581
ISSN: 0951-5224
1468-2273
Abstract: This study explored the experiences of women who are academics working in UK higher education (HE), using a feminist approach and narrative methods and analysis. The purpose of the research was to explore the experiences of women, with a view to highlighting potential shared experiences, informing the policies of universities and adding to the body of knowledge on women in HE. Findings include narrative themes around gender roles, male-dominated academia and life-stage impact on career. Concluding recommendations include meaningful recognition of pastoral roles and promotion tracks which value these skills and support for women's life stages, including maternity, motherhood, menopause and sandwich caring.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2025
Accession Number: EJ1459472
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0183952956;d8501jan.25;2025Mar25.08:15;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0183952956-1">Exploring the Experiences of Women Academics in England: The Combined Effects of Societal, Structural and Life‐Stage Factors </title> <p>This study explored the experiences of women who are academics working in UK higher education (HE), using a feminist approach and narrative methods and analysis. The purpose of the research was to explore the experiences of women, with a view to highlighting potential shared experiences, informing the policies of universities and adding to the body of knowledge on women in HE. Findings include narrative themes around gender roles, male‐dominated academia and life‐stage impact on career. Concluding recommendations include meaningful recognition of pastoral roles and promotion tracks which value these skills and support for women's life stages, including maternity, motherhood, menopause and sandwich caring.</p> <p>Keywords: academia; feminist approach; intersectionality; narrative; women</p> <hd id="AN0183952956-2">Introduction</hd> <p>Around the world, women academics face challenges. In terms of global data, it is clear that the 'higher the academic position, the lower the representation of women' (Galán‐Muros, Bouckaert, and Roser [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref1">25</reflink>], 5). They are likely to find promotion more challenging than their male colleagues (Galán‐Muros, Bouckaert, and Roser [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref2">25</reflink>]). They are likely to find research funding harder to attract and find themselves steered towards pastoral care, which, while important, is not rewarded in the same way as research (Barrett and Barrett [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref3">8</reflink>]; Sang et al. [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref4">47</reflink>]). Just 20.5% of professors are women and of the total 23,000 professors in the United Kingdom, only 61 are black women (Women's Higher Education Network [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref5">55</reflink>]). This project explored the life stories of 10 women academics at various stages of their careers, from universities across England, and how they presented the challenges they face, and have faced, in their work lives.</p> <p>It is important to point out that this paper is not bound to an idea that men and women are fundamentally and significantly different; rather, as societies we have accepted this as an underpinning and fundamental fact and have taken on ideas of gendered differences socially, culturally and structurally. Connell ([<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref6">16</reflink>]) explores the theory that women and men are subjected to an idea of character dichotomy, suggesting that because they are so different physically, mentally and emotionally, their gender traits make them more suitable for different roles and work. Women are supposed to be more nurturing, emotional and talkative, while men are aggressive, rational and analytic (Connell and Pearse [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref7">15</reflink>]). Where differences in experiences, opportunities and barriers are discussed here, it is with acknowledgement that these ideas of real gender traits are built on shaky ground, but that our society is based on the dichotomy being real, and behaving and legislating accordingly.</p> <hd id="AN0183952956-3">Societal Expectations of Gender</hd> <p>There is a wealth of literature on gender in the university sector globally, suggesting key issues that many countries have in common when it comes to women in academia (Mousa [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref8">36</reflink>]), although the focus of research is often on barriers to leadership (Kohtamäki, Zheng, and Jinia [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref9">31</reflink>]). Kohtamäki, Zheng, and Jinia ([<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref10">31</reflink>]) found in their systematic review of 62 articles on women in academic leadership in Bangladesh, China and Finland that social and cultural factors also have major impact on women in universities, particularly where university structures and cultures are men dominated. Avolio, Pardo, and Prados‐Peña ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref11">5</reflink>]) conducted a systematic review of 83 research papers and similarly reported factors that are sociocultural in nature, including personal and family circumstances and expectations, with similarities in global experiences of women.</p> <p>Expectations of 'feminine behaviour' in academia are part of the challenge when it comes to career advancement and the gender pay gap. Aiston and Fo ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref12">2</reflink>]) interviewed 35 women academics in leading Hong Kong universities, finding that the silencing of women in universities was a major barrier to career advancement. Through in‐depth analysis of women's reports, they posit that gender socialisation and expectations of feminine behaviour, together with perceived risks of speaking out, essentially silence women and marginalise them. Aiston and Fo ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref13">2</reflink>]) also found external silencing, for example, overlooking or excluding women from consultation and discussion (ibid., 2020). Baker's research over four decades (e.g., Baker, [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref14">7</reflink>]) in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States and United Kingdom suggests that there are multiple factors that produce a gender gap in universities;</p> <p>Despite major educational, social and institutional changes, men are still more likely than women to work in departments with a stronger research culture, receive informal mentoring early in their career, marry a supportive spouse who shoulders most of the household work, view themselves as experts, receive acknowledgement and recognition for their research, and postpone retirement. (Baker, [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref15">7</reflink>], 897)</p> <p>While the research outlined above demonstrates persistent and complex barriers to women reaching leadership positions in academia (Pasquerella and Clauss‐Ehlers [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref16">40</reflink>]), other issues create gender inequalities within the higher education workplace. Westoby et al. ([<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref17">53</reflink>]) add more dimensions to the scope of gender inequality in academia, citing themes they found in a systematic review of 32 papers. The overarching theme they identified was 'continued biases, barriers, double‐standards, and unsupportive work environments' (p. 1033). Underpinning societal assumptions about gender roles exacerbate the issue, beyond the exclusive networks to which women are not invited, and hierarchical structures which may favour men; women are expected to be nurturing and therefore responsible for pastoral care of students, children in the home and care of colleagues (Moreau [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref18">35</reflink>]). Women are still shouldering childcare, and this has been exacerbated during the COVID‐19 pandemic, with female academics taking on more teaching and producing fewer single‐authored peer‐reviewed papers, while submissions from men increased (Flaherty [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref19">23</reflink>]).</p> <p>The work/life balance challenge that disproportionately disadvantages women in a variety of careers in the United Kingdom also applies to academia, and gender expectations of responsibilities and caring are significant as they are in classroom teaching (Dion [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref20">20</reflink>]). In a comparative study, Ren and Caudle ([<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref21">43</reflink>]) explore academics' work/life balance in Britain and China. They found gender differences in both contexts, especially when it came to women sourcing support, managing feelings and making choices. Again, this suggests that societal expectations of gendered behaviour have an impact on not only how work/life balance is achieved but also on the acceptable ways of expressing difficulties in maintaining a balance. Rickett and Morris ([<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref22">44</reflink>]) describe the emotional capital of women academics; 'which women are expected to be able to draw' on and 'spend' on others as a kind of 'labour of love' (p. 90). Emotional capital—nurturing students and colleagues, offering support and guidance—is not valued financially, as perceived 'male' skills are, but is essential to the success of the university and the achievement of students (Rickett and Morris [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref23">44</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0183952956-4">Structures in Academia and Individual Institutions</hd> <p>There are a number of structural barriers to women in academia, some of which appear to be endemic and others that may be individual to institutions. Westoby et al. ([<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref24">53</reflink>]) conducted a systematic narrative review of 32 papers concerning barriers and facilitators to women in UK academia. They found key themes including networks—'old boys' clubs' which are not open to women (p. 1050); home–work balance, with a decision required to either prioritise home or work by institutions; inclusion, hierarchy and power, with women being assigned less valued tasks and roles; intersectionality and everyday sexism (Westoby et al. [<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref25">53</reflink>]). Cooper ([<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref26">17</reflink>]), following a case study involving 200 participants in a UK university, suggests that the 'leaky pipeline' of women into academic leadership stems from a higher education system that is historically patriarchal. Cooper found that 41% of women had been made to feel uncomfortable because of their gender, and male participants did not perceive the same issues as women. Cooper also suggests based on the study findings that change is required from university leadership, which is often masculine in nature.</p> <p>While much research often points to issues with promotion at senior levels, problems begin from the start of academic careers. Johansson and Jones ([<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref27">30</reflink>]) explored the experiences of women entering academia, identifying themes such as university hierarchies dismissing women's experiences and knowledge, and feelings of gratitude for being allowed to enter the academic sector, resulting in women being more willing to take on more teaching and administration loads. Fagan and Teasdale's ([<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref28">21</reflink>]) study compared universities based on whether they were male or female dominated at the top levels of their leadership hierarchy. Their findings suggest a gendering of the academic 'game', drawing on Bourdieu's ([<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref29">11</reflink>]) theories about social and cultural acceptance and understanding. To be successful, their participants engaged in three strategies; performing as ideal workers, building networks and performing leadership (Fagan and Teasdale [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref30">21</reflink>], 785). Male leaders at the same universities did not have to deploy such strategies because the promotion, mentoring and collaboration structures in their institutions favoured them—although it is worth pointing out that not all men in academia find it so easy to succeed (Sang and Calvard [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref31">46</reflink>]).</p> <p>Many of the recommendations of the literature in this area do recommend that women take action to solve the issues, which in itself may be problematic, when studies generally support the notion that women have less power and influence in the academy. Bagilhole ([<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref32">6</reflink>]) examines how academia is created and 'perpetuated by men for men' (p. 9). Bagilhole interviewed 80 academics, male and female, at all levels of university hierarchies and found that a major issue in male‐dominated management teams is promotion. While formal processes uphold equality of opportunity and legal obligations, informal processes also persist which favour men over women, for example, institutional understandings of merit and value, and informal mentoring and advocacy by influential figures. Bagilhole concludes that women need to challenge these processes and structures so that universities can become more inclusive and fair places to seek advancement. As explored in the literature on structural and cultural factors, women are not best placed to reform academia, given the current institutional and structural barriers.</p> <hd id="AN0183952956-5">Biological Factors and Life Stages</hd> <p>Most women experience distinct life stages throughout their working lives, with physical and psychological impacts that further exacerbate gender expectations and inequalities.</p> <p>van Engen, Bleijenbergh, and Beijer ([<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref33">52</reflink>]) focus on academic parents and advocate collective action to tackle the 'conforming, suffering or fighting' that this group need to undertake in order to work in the dominant discourses around parenthood that persist in higher education (p. 1493), but it is important to note that in many examples, the care load of parents tends not to be equal, with mothers doing 6% more housework and 22% more childcare (Andrews et al. [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref34">4</reflink>]). It is also worth noting that motherhood, alongside menstruation and menopause, has deep cultural and societal contexts and is often not well accommodated in institutional structures and cultures. It is also worth noting that while motherhood sits within this section, acknowledgement is made that not all parenthood is biological, but I would argue that it does constitute a life stage for biological, intentional, adoptive, foster and step‐parents.</p> <p>Recent research has supported the idea that the motherhood penalty is indeed a feature of UK academia. Di Leo et al. ([<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref35">19</reflink>]) found in a survey which gathered responses from approximately 17% of academic women (almost 10,000 individuals) that the existence of a motherhood penalty is clear in terms of salaries and career progression, but also in job satisfaction. Rosewell ([<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref36">45</reflink>]) in a study of 35 parent academics found that the experience of being an academic and a parent is different for men and women because the roles differ between mothers and fathers. Rosewell goes further and suggests that current research literature overlooks the differences in lived experience between women and men, and therefore limits our understanding of the impact on academic careers (Rosewell [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref37">45</reflink>]).</p> <p>In addition to the impacts which motherhood can have on female academics, they are also more likely to care for elderly or disabled relatives as well as children (Stephanou [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref38">50</reflink>]) and are twice as likely to have reduced working hours than other unpaid carers (Jebsen et al. [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref39">29</reflink>]). The care burden has many and complex knock‐on effects for women, from the perceptions of others to restrictions on international travel and conference attendance, which are essential parts of building a reputation as a researcher (Jebsen et al. [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref40">29</reflink>]).</p> <p>The life stages which impact female academics, in terms of the care of others, are in addition to personal changes which become issues due to a lack of appreciation within the organisation and the sector. For example, there is a paucity of literature on menstruation and menopause in higher education and more widely, considering that 51% of the population will experience these biological processes. Despite menopause being a natural part of women's lives, there can still be 'huge stigma attached to it and to women's health more widely' (Women and Equalities Committee [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref41">54</reflink>]). The onus is on women to manage their bodies to fit the expectations of their professional life, including menstruation and menopause, a concept that Sang et al. ([<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref42">47</reflink>]) describe as 'blood work'. As such, this stigma prevents women from talking about their health and impacts their experiences at work.</p> <p>Beck, Brewis, and Davies ([<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref43">9</reflink>]) have undertaken extensive research on menopause in academia, carrying out a Menopause Survey in 2018 which collected data on symptoms including hot flushes (52% of respondents experienced these), fatigue (49%), insomnia (46%) and anxiety/worry (41%). These symptoms all affected work, and conditions within universities were reported to be adding to the severity of the symptoms (Beck, Brewis, and Davies [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref44">9</reflink>]). However, despite these huge challenges to maintaining a high‐level career, women reported being unlikely to disclose their situation, mainly because of pressures on older women to fit the ideal worker template (Acker [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref45">1</reflink>]; Meliou, Mallett, and Rosenberg [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref46">34</reflink>]). One interpretation of this may be that in a male‐dominated structure, raising issues that are unique to women runs the risk of embedding and reinforcing narratives about the limitations of promoting women.</p> <p>Here I have explored three factors, each having an impact on careers and a potential cumulative effect when women face all three, which is expanded in the findings from this original research. There are societal and cultural factors, in terms of expectations of gender, and the potential for pigeonholing women into career pathways that do not lead to promotion, high salaries and esteem in the sector. Research also suggests that there are significant structural issues, in that men dominate academia, and this is particularly acute at higher levels of research, management and leadership. Finally, women's biological life stages are perceived as weaknesses and careers are accordingly impacted. As Connell and Pearse ([<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref47">15</reflink>]) point out, bodies have agency and bodies are socially constructed. Society and biology cannot be separated or reduced to the other, and hence it is important to consider these themes as interrelated as a 'social embodiment' (Connell and Pearse [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref48">15</reflink>]); although the majority of research in this area has focused on a specific and individual factor.</p> <p>Globally there are clearly barriers to women in academia, and research suggests that external and internal structural, societal and cultural factors contribute to a gap in women's achievement and career progression in the sector. However, there are gaps in the research literature in terms of the cumulative impact of these factors on women in England.</p> <hd id="AN0183952956-6">Methodology</hd> <p>A postmodern feminist approach has been taken for this study. Postmodern feminism is defined here as a rejection of 'grand narratives' (Lyotard, 1979) and is based on a constructionist view of reality in which we construct our world experience through language and discourse. Postmodern feminists suggest that women are not a homogenous group (Butler, [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref49">13</reflink>]; Henwood and Pidgeon, [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref50">28</reflink>]; McNay, [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref51">33</reflink>]). Postmodern feminism allows for the stories of women to be considered unique but does not necessarily rule out the idea that different women's stories could have points of coalescence and convergence at different times and in varied situations (Allen and Baber, [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref52">3</reflink>], 13; Quickfall, [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref53">42</reflink>], 7(<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref54">2</reflink>)).</p> <p>Qualitative data were collected using unstructured interviews with participants, supported by demographic data via an online questionnaire. These methods were chosen to maximise the freedom of participants to describe their experiences as they wished, while ensuring that demographic data were collected in order to identify intersections in experiences that may not have been clear from the interview transcripts.</p> <p>For this study, I am defining narrative methodology as 'stories people tell us about their experiences' (Clandinin [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref55">14</reflink>], 14), rather than handling the narrative data as a storied phenomenon. The role of the researcher in narrative methodology can be problematic for feminist researchers, as the need to interpret the stories of women can be theorised as exploitative (Tamboukou [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref56">51</reflink>]). However, to shine light on the experiences, individual women are living through, researchers can be helpful in finding patterns that participants may not have recognised as significant, or may not have the time or inclination to research and disseminate themselves.</p> <hd id="AN0183952956-7">Methods</hd> <p>The interviews followed a 'life story' model (Goodson [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref57">26</reflink>]; Sikes [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref58">49</reflink>]). Interviews opened with a single question—'what is it like to be a woman working in academia?'. Participants were interviewed online, utilising voice and camera. While undoubtedly face‐to‐face interviews present a different experience to online interviews, for both participant and researcher (Gray et al. [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref59">27</reflink>]), again, pragmatic research design led to a decision; online interviews mean that busy academics were more likely to be able to take part, they are generally quicker (no travel time) and participants from across England can be included without additional costs. Opdenakker ([<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref60">39</reflink>]) discusses advantages and disadvantages of face‐to‐face and remote interviews, and while face‐to‐face interviews can build rapport between participant and researcher, and lead to clearer understandings of meaning through body language, facial expression and tone, there are benefits to online interviewing, which can be postponed and rearranged or cancelled with minimum disruption and raise fewer challenges in terms of researcher safety. Participants were informed that they were in control of the duration. Interview duration varied from 35 min to almost 2 h.</p> <hd id="AN0183952956-8">Participants</hd> <p>Participants were recruited by using the social media network, Twitter. A tweet was posted with a brief description of the research and a link to an expression of interest form. To participate, participants needed to confirm that they were currently working or had worked in a UK higher education institution as an academic, and identify as a woman. The participant information survey gathered basic information, such as:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> how long they have worked in academia in time brackets (e.g., 1–5 years),</item> <p></p> <item> university type and contract,</item> <p></p> <item> age bracket (10‐year intervals),</item> <p></p> <item> ethnicity,</item> <p></p> <item> social class (self‐identified),</item> <p></p> <item> disability status,</item> <p></p> <item> sexuality,</item> <p></p> <item> marital status,</item> <p></p> <item> carer responsibilities and</item> <p></p> <item> academic family history.</item> </ulist> <p>Each question had a 'rather not say' option, and use of this option did not affect participants going through to interview. In total, 23 women completed the expression of interest form, (who were all then sent the participant information) 12 women completed the consent form and demographic data and 10 women were interviewed. Two women were invited to interview, but could not attend for work and personal reasons, and did not respond to an email inviting them to reschedule.</p> <p>The table below (Table 1) gives demographic information for the 10 interview participants. All names have been pseudonymised and universities have been reported by type rather than name to reduce the chance of participants being recognisable.</p> <p>1 TABLE Participant demographic information.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="bottom"><tr><th align="left">Name</th><th align="center">Age</th><th align="center">Years in HE</th><th align="center">Role</th><th align="center">University type</th><th align="center">First‐generation graduate</th><th align="center">Ethnicity</th><th align="center">Disability</th><th align="center">Sexuality</th><th align="center">Carer Status</th><th align="center">Marital status</th></tr></thead><tbody valign="top"><tr><td align="left">Hannah</td><td align="center">31–40</td><td align="center">0–2</td><td align="center">FT Perm Principal Lecturer</td><td align="center">Post‐92</td><td align="center">Yes</td><td align="center">White European</td><td align="center">No</td><td align="center">Hetero</td><td align="center">Children at home</td><td align="center">Civil partnership</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Amy</td><td align="center">51–60</td><td align="center">10+</td><td align="center">PT Perm Senior Lecturer</td><td align="center">New</td><td align="center">No</td><td align="center">White other</td><td align="center">Yes</td><td align="center">Hetero</td><td align="center">Children at home</td><td align="center">Married</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Xanthe</td><td align="center">51–60</td><td align="center">6–10</td><td align="center">FT Perm Programme Lead</td><td align="center">Post‐92</td><td align="center">Yes</td><td align="center">White European</td><td align="center">Yes</td><td align="center">Hetero</td><td align="center">None</td><td align="center">Married</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Naomi</td><td align="center">51–60</td><td align="center">6–10</td><td align="center">PT Perm Programme Leader</td><td align="center">Post‐92</td><td align="center">Yes</td><td align="center">White European</td><td align="center">No</td><td align="center">Hetero</td><td align="center">Adults outside of the home</td><td align="center">Married</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Stella</td><td align="center">51–60</td><td align="center">10+</td><td align="center">FT PermSenior Lecturer</td><td align="center">Post‐92</td><td align="center">Yes</td><td align="center">White European</td><td align="center">No</td><td align="center">Undecided</td><td align="center">Adults outside of the home</td><td align="center">Single</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Fiona</td><td align="center">51–60</td><td align="center">10+</td><td align="center">FT Perm Senior Lecturer</td><td align="center">Russell Group</td><td align="center">Yes</td><td align="center">White European</td><td align="center">Yes</td><td align="center">Hetero</td><td align="center">Adults outside of the home</td><td align="center">In a relationship</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Liz</td><td align="center">41–50</td><td align="center">6–10</td><td align="center">FT Fixed Lecturer</td><td align="center">Russell Group</td><td align="center">No</td><td align="center">White European</td><td align="center">No</td><td align="center">Hetero</td><td align="center">Adults in the home</td><td align="center">Married</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Marie</td><td align="center">41–50</td><td align="center">10+</td><td align="center">FT FixedProgramme Leader</td><td align="center">1 × Pre‐921 × New</td><td align="center">Yes</td><td align="center">Northern Irish</td><td align="center">Yes</td><td align="center">Hetero</td><td align="center">None</td><td align="center">Single</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Robyn</td><td align="center">41–50</td><td align="center">10+</td><td align="center">FT Perm Lecturer</td><td align="center">Russell Group</td><td align="center">Yes</td><td align="center">Mixed Heritage</td><td align="center">No</td><td align="center">Hetero</td><td align="center">Children at home</td><td align="center">Married</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Julia</td><td align="center">41–50</td><td align="center">10+</td><td align="center">FT Fixed Senior Lecturer</td><td align="center">Russell Group</td><td align="center">No</td><td align="center">White British</td><td align="center">No</td><td align="center">Hetero</td><td align="center">Children at home</td><td align="center">Married</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>Narratives did not emerge from the data, they were mined in a deliberate and reflexive act of looking for, finding and examining themes with my own researcher identity and life experiences taken into account in the selection of those themes. It is important to acknowledge that a different researcher would probably identify different narratives and focus on other intersections in the data; therefore, a process of 'uncomfortable reflexivity' (Pillow [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref61">41</reflink>]) was followed, a process of going back to the data and questioning my relationship to the narratives. Throughout the process of coding the narratives, I questioned myself on why I was picking out particular themes, and why I might be interested in some stories rather than others. This 'uncomfortable reflexivity' (Pillow [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref62">41</reflink>]) presented me with opportunities to interrogate my own choices and biases throughout the process and potentially made the process of analysis more balanced.</p> <p>Three major themes were the focus of the interviews, namely those of societal expectations, structural and institutional problems and life stages. These were the themes that were discussed more than any other in the interviews, and mirrored the three major factors in the literature, although these factors are rarely explored in combination.</p> <hd id="AN0183952956-9">Ethical Considerations</hd> <p>In terms of general ethical principles, British Educational Research Association [BERA] ([<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref63">12</reflink>]) ethical guidelines have been used to guide choices made for this project and ethical approval was sought and granted by a university ethics committee. For this research project, anonymity was not guaranteed to participants due to the nature of unstructured interviews and the possibility of identifying details being published inadvertently, despite names and identifying features being pseudonymised. Participants were informed that efforts would be made to protect their anonymity, but in the interests of transparent ethical practice, this could not be completely assured.</p> <hd id="AN0183952956-10">Findings and Discussion</hd> <p>Here, the narrative analysis findings are shared in three sections, reflecting major narratives through the 10 interviews:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> gender role expectations,</item> <p></p> <item> male‐dominated academia and</item> <p></p> <item> life stages and impact on career.</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0183952956-11">Societal Expectations of Gender</hd> <p>All of the women I interviewed had experienced the effects of gender role expectations in their academic work, which is not surprising perhaps given that they had all volunteered to talk about being a woman in academia. However, there were narrative threads through the stories, which were common to many of the participants. Xanthe talked about her experience of women on her team shouldering the care work at home:</p> <p>The men I lead don't ever seem to have the same family responsibilities that the women I lead have. Even though they both have made the children. It seems to be the women who have family responsibilities and that might be their own children, but it's also as their parents age, it's looking after elderly parents as well. And I see the women I work with either struggling to juggle parenthood or taking the bulk of the emotional load, the mental load, the social calendar load. (Xanthe, 2023)</p> <p>The responsibility for running the home and family still lies with women more widely (Fatherhood Institute [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref64">22</reflink>]; Office for National Statistics [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref65">38</reflink>]; Rickett and Morris [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref66">44</reflink>]) and academia is no exception (Rosewell [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref67">45</reflink>]). Fiona talked about her own mother's view of the 'have it all' discourse, here referred to as 'women's lib' (women's liberation):</p> <p>My mum once said to me that women's lib was the worst thing that could happen to women because women ended up having a job and having all those responsibilities, but still being expected to do domestic tasks as well. And I have a super lovely partner and I love him very much, but he still looks to me to do a lot of the domestic work, the cooking, the washing dishes, etcetera. I have to regularly remind them that it's not just my job to do that because I have a full‐time job as well. (Fiona, 2022)</p> <p>Fiona grudgingly admits that her mum may have a point, as her situation at home provides an example of how some things have changed hugely for women since the 1960s (such as rates of employment, Office for National Statistics [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref68">37</reflink>]), while others have been slow to catch up (such as housework and care work equality). There is an assumption that if a woman chooses to have it all, she is then responsible for managing her busy schedule—unlike men who are more regularly allowed to put their work first. While men (and society) benefit from women joining the paid workforce in increasing numbers, it seems the burden of managing households is still on women. Many of the women talked about how this inequality in women's work at home and university was not acknowledged, and was a cause of women not reaching their full potential:</p> <p>But yeah, I think not enough has changed because I do think that attitude is still embedded and it comes out in different ways...they schedule meetings when you perhaps have children to look after or they schedule meetings to run on and just don't see the issue that you might have elderly relatives to take care of. So those sorts of things just don't occur to them. There's somebody them to do it for them.</p> <p>The way academia is set up, so far as I can tell, is on the assumption that that basically men are doing this and they have a wife at home to look after all the domestic stuff, do the typing for them and clean their clothes and make sure they look respectable and all that and sort of carry on and it's incompatible with women. (Marie, 2022)</p> <p>Marie raises the challenge of caring for family members and joins two ideas together; because women are expected to do the unpaid care work outside of their paid work, and leadership teams are overwhelmingly male meaning such issues may not be perceived as requiring time and effort, the issue continues to go unseen and unchallenged (Stephanou [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref69">50</reflink>]). This is exacerbated further by the phenomenon Liz describes below:</p> <p>And it's like, because if you're judged to be that motherly, caring kind of person, then they decide for you that you want to do even more of that. But certainly having been a mother and when the kids were young particularly, you just felt relieved when you went to work, you're like, 'oh, thank God I'm not their mother. I am Liz'. Therefore, you want to not do anything like that pastoral work because you're fed up of doing all that kind of stuff. It's taken up enough of your brain and your energy, that you actually want to be you and known for things that are not that. (Liz, 2023)</p> <p>Where academic life could provide an escape from domestic and care work, often the gendered distribution of responsibility for care is replicated in the university as women are seen as 'naturally able' in pastoral roles by those in higher positions, predominantly men. Amy's story builds on this, as she points out that the additional roles women tend to accumulate in the university, including pastoral roles and 'good citizen' activities, are not recognised as valuable when it comes to promotion (Moreau [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref70">35</reflink>]). Hence, the supposed meritocracy of academia favours a specific set of experiences, in which women have to work much harder to get involved.</p> <p>And all these are the kind of roles that go beyond your institution... Again, women tend to pick up those, so I would argue that I probably do a hell of a lot of that academic citizenship beyond my institution. Well, if women are doing a lot more of that sort of grunt work of research, if they're doing a lot more academic citizenship beyond the institution, if they have children, have domestic responsibilities, you're starting to add a lot more workload to women. And so therefore, they end up getting stressed, burnt out and actually can't cope with all of this stuff. (Amy, 2023)</p> <p>Julia also talked about gendered expectations and how she has chosen to devote her time and energy to her children and family, while her academic work remains a day job. She summarised this with a metaphor:</p> <p>On my gravestone, it will say 'mum, sister, daughter'. It won't say researcher or academic. (Julia, 2023)</p> <hd id="AN0183952956-12">Structures in Academia and Institutions: Male‐Dominated Spaces</hd> <p>A major theme in many of the women's stories was the male‐dominated nature of higher education (Bagilhole [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref71">6</reflink>]). Many of the 10 participants were in faculties led by men, with leadership teams overwhelmingly led by men. Four of the participants also commented on the male‐dominated nature of research and research roles.</p> <p>A lot of women are lecturers or sometimes senior lecturers, but the number that then move up, particularly on teaching and scholarship and roles, it is really rare to see women moving through into associate professor roles and professor roles, because that whole dynamics of academia is steered towards the first author who does tons of peer review but doesn't necessarily do edited volumes or all that other stuff. They push that work onto other people, so the inequalities of being a woman are dealing with all that kind of work and I think that's really unfair. (Liz, 2023)</p> <p>Liz reports that women at her institution are overlooked, or are underqualified for higher research roles, but in her experience, the women are doing a lot of the hard work that ends in men being promoted into research posts. While clearly, not all first authors are men, or pushing less prestigious work onto others, Liz's perception is that there is a difference in value in terms of the work, and who does the work. Liz's perception is that the 'good citizen' tasks like editing book chapters are passed to junior colleagues to handle, meaning that they do not have time to accumulate the required awards and plaudits needed to gain promotion (Jebsen et al. [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref72">29</reflink>]).</p> <p>It's become clear to me that that men get professorship a lot younger and a lot quicker than women do. And I don't know whether that's because they are more driven and they've been brought up with these very sort of masculine values. I think they've got that sense that they should go for things, they should be dominant, they should be doing this and doing that. And I think women are a bit more reticent. (Fiona, 2022)</p> <p>Fiona has also noticed this and makes a link between male success in research, and masculine ways of being, perhaps suggesting that the gender role expectations that lead women to take on more pastoral and supportive work, also push men to chase research promotions. Potentially there is also an issue that men may receive more mentoring and support from male leaders, and in a male‐dominated leadership team, this could have a dramatic impact. It is also possible that recruitment panels who think they are promoting academics on merit are actually being steered by informal discourses around who has earned their place (Woodhams, Trojanowski, and Wilkinson [<reflink idref="bib56" id="ref73">56</reflink>]). As Robyn points out, expectations of who has merit are difficult to shift:</p> <p>A (female) colleague of mine has been working on developing a module alongside a male colleague, and a senior leader said to her before Christmas. 'Ohh, it's great work that he's been doing on this module. Totally amazing, all this work that he's developed'. And she was absolutely staggered because obviously she put the module together with him, but he'd (the leader) absolutely got no awareness of her contribution, and also this other male colleague who she been working with didn't actually correct him. (Robyn, 2023)</p> <p>This story is echoed through various experiences shared in many of the interviews. Women achieve something valuable, either alone or working with men, and their perception is that men somehow end up getting the credit for the work.</p> <p>When women take matters into their own hands, and demand action is taken, or set up their own routes to promotion, it is not always an easy road:</p> <p>You know the there's still isn't a pathway, despite being promised the pathway to female leadership. It hasn't happened despite being promised support by Athena Swan. They promised support, didn't happen. It was reliant on one woman running it, and they left. Putting hours of their time into something that they were really getting no acknowledgement for, and it's disappeared.</p> <p>And it's not an institutional priority, which seems peculiar when 60% of their staff are women. (Xanthe, 2023)</p> <p>Xanthe describes 2 years of work by female colleagues to have a female leadership pathway designed as part of an Athena Swan Bronze Award submission (Athena Swan is an accreditation framework which is used to support gender equality within higher education) which ultimately came to nothing; her deputy vice chancellor reportedly put this down to men in the institution not being invited to support the work, and hence it got no traction in the wider university, as also noted in the work of Bhopal and Henderson ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref74">10</reflink>]). Xanthe goes on to describe the leadership team of her faculty:</p> <p>That's a group of men who will who giggle together. They giggled together in corridors. When they come into a meeting, they'll sit together and the couple of men in my team will sit with them as well. And you end up working in a team meeting with a boy's table. (Xanthe 2023)</p> <p>Three of the 10 women mentioned similar experiences to this, where men would form what Stella referred to as a 'boy's club'. Liz commented that women were probably being excluded from many opportunities because they were not invited to the boy's club, or perhaps because they could not as easily go to the bar or attend sporting or social events where research and other opportunities are discussed informally (Savigny [<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref75">48</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0183952956-13">Biological Factors and Life Stages: Impact on Career</hd> <p>As discussed above, women's careers are impacted by their life stages, which can have explicit repercussions on their career development. Amy describes her maternity and that she looked forward to returning to work because of her line manager (Di Leo et al. [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref76">19</reflink>]). Her line manager's approach to returning to work is described:</p> <p>My line manager saw no reason why I should need childcare at all. She felt that my daughter could come along in a papoose and be with me the entire time. I felt that wasn't entirely realistic, but she was very happy, if you know, childcare fell through, that I just bring the baby along. I breastfed through so many meetings because I would go pick her up from the childminder and bring her back.</p> <p>And so my experiences have been generally positive that I don't feel being a woman has impacted on me professionally, but motherhood and pregnancy, I've generally had really understanding line managers, who are also women, who've made it all very easy. (Amy, 2022)</p> <p>Amy tells a positive story of women supporting women through life stages. Amy had a series of line managers who were understanding of family commitments, right through to her current line manager who still supports her even though her children are all adults and her commitments have changed significantly. In contrast, Marie has to make different choices, through lack of any sustained support in academia:</p> <p>For me, it meant choosing not to have a family. There's no financial security, there's no housing security, you know, and there were times where you had to sleep on somebody's sofa. So you can't have kids. And put them in that situation, that's not fair. Can't do that. That's immoral. It's kind of always dangled, you know, 'we'll sort it next semester. We will get that sorted. You're doing great now, it's just that you need to hang on'. Just hang on and it's just constantly moved in front of you. And lots of people leave. (Marie, 2022)</p> <p>Marie is running a programme on a fixed‐term contract and has been on precarious contracts since 2010. She describes a sector where women's labour is valuable enough to keep promising the potential of a permanent contract. Marie also describes other life events she has had to forego, such as owning her own home because she cannot get a mortgage, and not ever feeling like part of a community as she has to move house so often to follow the next fixed‐term contract. Precarity in higher education is not restricted to women, and many male academics will find themselves in similar situations, but Marie's perception is that her choices are narrower because she is a woman; she does not feel she can wait until her 40s to start a family. Hannah had her children before she became an academic, and describes the pressure on her to enact her life stage:</p> <p>And that's one of the most difficult things I found actually about being a female academic, that balancing. So I'm supposed to be a perfect mother. I'm supposed to be a great wife. I'm supposed to be, you know, leading the field in whatever I'm doing at the same time. And they are pressures that my husband just doesn't have. I mean, he's been away for 11 days in (Europe), he comes back today. And during that time I've had two ill children off school, like stress, stress, stress in every element of my life...Still you do see a lot of female academics doing the heavy lifting at home, as well as at work. Which is sad because our jobs are very stressful. (Hannah, 2022)</p> <p>Hannah talks through the expectations of her as a wife and mother, and her story here makes links with gender expectations and the impact on women of the maleness of academia. She is juggling a relatively new career, various external and internal pressures in her workplace and ill children and a house, while her partner is away. Motherhood in academia has challenges and opportunities, and some mothers will have more resources and support than Hannah; but the inequality of expectation and care load between mothers and fathers persists (Westoby et al. [<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref77">53</reflink>]).</p> <p>Three of the women in this study had adult children who were still reliant on parental support because of physical, mental or emotional needs—a phenomenon that is often not considered in policy or discourse. For some carers, the challenge is far beyond the 'sandwich' of young children and elderly parents to care for; the needs of children, grandchildren, adult children and elderly relatives is a significant burden.</p> <p>Beyond more public issues such as caring and motherhood, there is growing media interest and calls for policy changes to support women who are in perimenopause or menopause (Women and Equalities Committee [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref78">54</reflink>]). Amy describes a frightening effect of hormonal changes on her memory, and the revelation and relief provided by a group of women coming together to share their experiences:</p> <p>One to two years ago somebody started a menopause group. When you hear about menopause, which is very rarely, it's all about the hot flushes...What they don't tell you are the issues brainwise. I didn't realize it at the time. And it wasn't until much later that I realized why... I'm a person who knows things, and that was part of my identity, and I wasn't that anymore. It's very disquieting. And it was only later when we were in this menopause group that I was realizing that that's one of the chief symptoms of menopause is that you do start forgetting stuff. And I've spoken to quite a few other women, women of the similar age and a bunch of us have all thought we had early onset of Alzheimer's. So it was really helpful having that group just to talk through issues. (Amy, 2022)</p> <p>This group was organised by the chaplaincy at Amy's university and sadly did not continue due to the pandemic. Xanthe's university also took an interest in making changes to support women in this life stage:</p> <p>We got a menopause policy that was supposed to be ratified, that sort of disappeared...but there was a sense of looking at older women around you as your role models. There was a sense of not respecting that expertise because you get to a certain age. That's a characteristic of a women of a certain age, they have wisdom, but we don't respect it. We take the piss out of it.</p> <p>And now I'm heading into that stage and I'm finding some of those characteristics myself. Do women seem to age out of wisdom? You know, there used to be the old crone stage. The grandma stage, whether she was the matriarch and the queen of all things. (Xanthe, 2023)</p> <p>She also describes a societal view of women of 'a certain age'. Perhaps stemming from the sort of symptoms that Amy described, menopausal women are assumed to be confused and grumpy, rather than experienced and wise colleagues who have so much to offer a team and an institution—they do not fit the template of the ideal worker (Acker [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref79">1</reflink>]; Meliou, Mallett, and Rosenberg [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref80">34</reflink>]).</p> <p>I wonder about women and ageing. I think there are different narratives to men and ageing. Men get more wise and distinguished, and we just become barren and an old maid. That sense of, you know, 'you're a man. You get to an old age and you're ripe'. (Robyn, 2023)</p> <p>Robyn speaks more broadly about societal and cultural views of ageing in men and women, primarily how men are assumed to be wiser as they get older, and women are assumed to be of less value.</p> <hd id="AN0183952956-14">Conclusion</hd> <p>The women who shared their stories for this work not only echoed some of the voices in recent research with women in academia (e.g., Fagan and Teasdale [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref81">21</reflink>]; Westoby et al. [<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref82">53</reflink>]) but also introduced some interesting intersections of experiences and connections between the three themes. While the sample size here is small (10 participants) and this study was never designed to be generalisable to a greater cohort, it seems likely that the experiences of these 10 women will resonate to some degree with other women working in academia.</p> <hd id="AN0183952956-15">University Policy</hd> <p>As suggested by Di Leo et al. ([<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref83">19</reflink>]), practical solutions can be enacted that support many women to engage with academia and to do well. These include better maternity and childcare provision by the university as employer, and career development specifically tailored to women. While leadership teams are dominated by men, these high‐investment strategies may not seem like a priority, particularly in a sector where there are usually more urgent and dramatic challenges to tackle than the slow and quiet issue of women academics being overlooked. In the findings of this study, it seems clear that targeted support for career progression would help (or would have helped) some women to consider themselves as ideal applicants for promoted posts, particularly if part of that support package was aimed at elevating the pastoral roles that women often fulfil and acknowledging the life stages of women that may hamper their career trajectories if their experience is weighed in consecutive years served. Just as teaching and learning tracks have widened the scope for recruiting associate professors and professors in many universities, consideration could be given to tracks for promotion that take into account expertise in support and care of students and staff, rather than assuming that this is a 'natural' and 'easy' part of womanhood which requires no extrinsic reward. This is not an easy problem to fix due to the performative nature of higher education in England, and the metrics‐driven systems for measuring success in academia (Fletcher et al. [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref84">24</reflink>]). This structure favours men (Fagan and Teasdale [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref85">21</reflink>]; Lumby [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref86">32</reflink>]), so structural inequalities need to be fully explored so that measures taken are not a 'sticking plaster'.</p> <p>Women's life stages are different and special, and these should be accounted for by employers. While maternity and flexible working policies are legal requirements, albeit with varied experiences 'on the ground', menopause support is not widely provided or a requirement, but could so easily be introduced. As Amy and Xanthe attest, having access to support groups and being involved in drawing up focused policies can have a beneficial effect. Amy's example of living with the fear of early‐onset Alzheimer disease until she talked about this at an informal menopause support group gives a strong rationale for introducing similar supportive groups. Recruitment and promotion processes that actively encourage women to apply, with value given to women's life‐stage experiences as a benefit to the institution, rather than a deficit, would also be helpful. Career breaks for maternity and care leave being factored into decision‐making empathetically, and support with menopause are one side of this, but education of leaders and wider staff around the challenges of gender equality in institutions are also vital; many men and women in academia may not see the factors that are barriers to women's careers.</p> <p>A lot of the literature and the stories shared here point to issues with male‐dominated leadership and decision‐making, which inadvertently (and sometimes deliberately, it would seem) lead to women being overlooked, ignored, undervalued and underpromoted. Schemes like Athena Swan, which seek to address this issue in universities can go some way to educating staff and making way for policies and strategies that promote women, but only if the leadership of the university really embrace the process and sustain that support at the highest level. If the award is treated as a 'tick box' exercise, as often is the case (Bhopal and Henderson [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref87">10</reflink>]), then the needed change will not come about. Often the hard work of improving equality and opportunity in universities is carried out by women who are already overworked (de Aguiar, Haque, and Bender [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref88">18</reflink>]), which adds to a narrative of women fixing academia so that they can have fair opportunities, rather than the men who tend to lead academia finding and implementing solutions.</p> <hd id="AN0183952956-16">Interrelated Factors</hd> <p>Connell and Pearse ([<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref89">15</reflink>]) assert that social embodiment of gender involves not only the conduct of the individual but also the conduct of groups and institutions. The participants in this study described aspects of societal expectations of gender, structures in academia and biological life stages through the conduct of individuals, groups and institutions, sometimes with positive impacts for the participants, but more often with negative impact. The three themes explored here may at first seem disparate and unconnected, but they are interrelated, and I would suggest that treating these as separate issues to tackle is unhelpful. For example, setting up a menopause support network without acknowledging the gendered expectations that prevent women from seeking support in the university, or without mitigating against the male domination at decision‐making level, means that the support network fails. Similarly, investing in accreditation schemes such as Athena Swan, as a method to tackle structural issues within the university makes little impact if expectations of women in the institution are such that the work goes unnoticed, and life‐stage concerns that are raised are ignored. I would suggest that all three of these factors need to be considered together to make a difference to women in academia.</p> <hd id="AN0183952956-17">Author Contributions</hd> <p> <bold>Aimee Quickfall:</bold> methodology, conceptualization, supervision, investigation, writing – original draft, visualization, validation.</p> <hd id="AN0183952956-18">Acknowledgements</hd> <p>The author would like to acknowledge the participants in the study for giving their time to share their experiences.</p> <hd id="AN0183952956-19">Ethics Statement</hd> <p>The BERA ethics guidelines (2018) have been followed throughout the research project and ethical approval was sought and granted by the following institutions before data were collected.</p> <hd id="AN0183952956-20">Conflicts of Interest</hd> <p>The author declares no conflicts of interest.</p> <hd id="AN0183952956-21">Data Availability Statement</hd> <p>The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. 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  Data: Exploring the Experiences of Women Academics in England: The Combined Effects of Societal, Structural and Life-Stage Factors
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Aimee+Quickfall%22">Aimee Quickfall</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6250-3189">0000-0001-6250-3189</externalLink>)
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  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Women+Faculty%22">Women Faculty</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Foreign+Countries%22">Foreign Countries</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+Influences%22">Social Influences</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teacher+Attitudes%22">Teacher Attitudes</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Sex+Role%22">Sex Role</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Females%22">Females</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Gender+Bias%22">Gender Bias</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Power+Structure%22">Power Structure</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Educational+Policy%22">Educational Policy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Universities%22">Universities</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teacher+Characteristics%22">Teacher Characteristics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teaching+Experience%22">Teaching Experience</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Work+Attitudes%22">Work Attitudes</searchLink>
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  Data: This study explored the experiences of women who are academics working in UK higher education (HE), using a feminist approach and narrative methods and analysis. The purpose of the research was to explore the experiences of women, with a view to highlighting potential shared experiences, informing the policies of universities and adding to the body of knowledge on women in HE. Findings include narrative themes around gender roles, male-dominated academia and life-stage impact on career. Concluding recommendations include meaningful recognition of pastoral roles and promotion tracks which value these skills and support for women's life stages, including maternity, motherhood, menopause and sandwich caring.
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      – SubjectFull: Women Faculty
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      – SubjectFull: Foreign Countries
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      – SubjectFull: Social Influences
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      – SubjectFull: Teacher Attitudes
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      – SubjectFull: Sex Role
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      – SubjectFull: Females
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      – SubjectFull: Gender Bias
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      – SubjectFull: Universities
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      – SubjectFull: Teacher Characteristics
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      – SubjectFull: Teaching Experience
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      – SubjectFull: Work Attitudes
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      – SubjectFull: United Kingdom (England)
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      – TitleFull: Exploring the Experiences of Women Academics in England: The Combined Effects of Societal, Structural and Life-Stage Factors
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          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 01
              Type: published
              Y: 2025
          Identifiers:
            – Type: issn-print
              Value: 0951-5224
            – Type: issn-electronic
              Value: 1468-2273
          Numbering:
            – Type: volume
              Value: 79
            – Type: issue
              Value: 1
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Higher Education Quarterly
              Type: main
ResultId 1