Negotiating the Frontier: Women and Resistance in the Contemporary Academy

Abstract

The traditional barriers to entry of women into the modern university context have generally been dismantled; however, there still exists a hierarchy of positions & universities that prevents women from achieving status in the upper echelons of the academy. Moreover, as women have made dramatic strides in the academy as a whole, a new conservative assault on the university currently threatens to erase the gains they have made. In this context, it is suggested that three questions require immediate response by female academics: the extent & kind of response women should make to the conservatives' marketization of the university; the relation of women's studies programs to one another & to the academy at large; & the issue of ownership & control of knowledge in a climate dominated by market principles. It is deemed time that women make strategic use of their hard-earned space in the academy for the benefit of women & the academy generally. 19 References. D. M. Ryfe