The Silence/ing of Academic Women

The underrepresentation of women in the most senior ranks, and senior leadership positions in the academy, is a global phenomenon. How and why women academics experience the higher education profession differently to their male colleagues has been the subject of extensive research.

In this event, in celebration of International Women’s Day, Dr Sarah Jane Aiston brings a new conceptual dimension to our understanding of this complex and enduring issue, based on interviews with women at research-intensive universities. Sarah Jane’s presentation will use the theoretical frame of ‘micro-inequities’ (small events which are covert and hard to prove) to analyse both why academic women remain silent and how academic women are silenced.

The event will include contributions from the panel and a general discussion and recommendations from the floor. #pressforprogress #timesup.

Ideas and contributions will be recorded by graphic facilitator Pen Mendonca, who is delivering a project spanning International Women’s Day and the Arts and Science Festival: #StopStartCareers

Programme:

• 2:30pm: Introduction, Professor Michaela Kendall,
• 2:35pm Women at UoB: Current actions and future targets – Professor Una Martin, DPVC Equalities, University of Birmingham
• 2:50 pm Silence/Silencing of academic women – Dr Sarah Jane Aiston, Senior Lecturer, Department of Education and Social Justice, University of Birmingham
• 3:20pm Response – Rt Hon. Preet Gill, Member of Parliament, Edgbaston, Birmingham
  3:40pm – Open discussion: How do we move forward and press for progress?
• 4pm – Close and Drinks reception