Sex and Violence in Academic Life or You Can Keep a Good Woman Down

Abstract

British universities, and institutions of higher education in general, are still male institutions with very limited and rigid career patterns. Characteristically, they are run according to hierarchical systems of organisation which are not consistent with the democratic and liberal ethic adopted by these institutions. Although women comprise important elements of the student body and various workforces, they are plentiful in traditional female and service roles, notably cleaning, catering and clerical, and rare in the higher reaches of administration, research and teaching. The contradiction between the liberal ideology and scholarly aims of higher education, and the realities of competitive academic careers in male-dominated hierarchies, leads to widespread defence of male privilege and to institutionalised forms of violence.KeywordsSexual HarassmentAcademic CareerSexual ObjectAcademic LifeFemale AcademicThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.