Spinning Futures: Interrogating Feminist Pedagogy and Methodology With Speculative Fiction

In this article, we interrogate our experiences as four women academics with two short stories written in conversation with one another: The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin, and “The Ones Who Stay and Fight,” written by N. K. Jemisin. Both Le Guin and Jemisin’s stories evoke questions about ethics and responsibility in the face of oppression. More specifically, both stories offer complicated and nuanced considerations for how we respond methodologically and pedagogically to systemic oppressions and violence as feminist subjects.

Knock on the Door: The Experiences of Internationally Educated Women Seeking Academic Positions in China

This study examines how gender shapes the experiences of internationally educated Chinese women academics in obtaining academic positions in higher education institutions in China. Drawing on feminist theories and using a qualitative narrative method, this paper investigates women’s experiences in applying and interviewing for academic jobs in China. The findings demonstrate various challenges women encounter, including gender-based discrimination, arbitrary evaluation criteria, and institutional inertia, and illustrate women’s subjectivity in pursuing academic careers. This study exposes the limitations of the statistical understandings of gender parity and the negative effects of neoliberal measurability, and suggests measures for institutions to promote gender equity.

Rwandan Women in Higher Education: Progress, Successes, and Challenges

In nearly three decades since Rwanda’s genocide and civil war, its education sector has undergone reconstruction to an unprecedented degree within higher education. While greater numbers of girls are attending university, and more women are becoming university faculty members, their status in educational leadership roles remains unclear. This qualitative investigation sought to present insight into four women who serve as professors and executive leaders within the higher education system by examining their progress, successes, and challenges. Four of the many insights that have emerged include women’s smaller acceptance rate into higher education as undergraduates; the country’s lack of Ph.D. programs, thereby requiring women to leave the country in order to obtain the terminal degree; disproportionate service expectations placed on women academics as compared to men that affect scholarly output; and society’s expectation for women’s responsibilities as wives and mothers regardless of career responsibilities or status. To remedy these findings, further investigation can shed light on the reasons for low acceptance of women into the university; may lead to development of a strategic plan to address the lack of opportunities for students to enter graduate level education leading to the Ph.D.; and may address broader national policies that support women academics such as attention to child care and mentoring for promotion.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Professional Lives of Women Academics: a Scoping Review

BackgroundWomen academics face specific professional and personal challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic resulting from lack of access to adequate childcare, increased demands on women’s time to address the needs of family members, and physical and mental health concerns. Prior to the pandemic, women academics faced disparities regarding merit, tenure and promotion. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated inequalities in paid and domestic work resulting in a disproportionate effect on the personal and professional lives of academic women. The burden is even heavier for women academics who face intersecting systems of oppression, such as those based on ethnicity, skin colour, body size, sexual orientation, gender, age, economic class, dependent status, and/or ability. The objectives of this scoping review are to (a) identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the professional lives of women academics, and (b) explore the individual, organisational, and systems levels strategies that can support women academics during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsThe scoping review will be conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR) following Joanna Briggs Institute scoping reviews guidelines. We will systematically search PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, medrxiv, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar for articles published from December 2019 to July 2021 in any language using key words and MESH terms, and search reference lists for additional studies. Two reviewers will screen articles using inclusion and exclusion criteria, review full articles, and extract data using a standardised form including study information, participant characteristics, effects of COVID-19 pandemic on professional life, and strategies to support women academics in a pandemic. A third reviewer will resolve conflicting decisions through discussion. Findings will be presented using narrative description, summary tables and illustrative quotes.DiscussionThe scoping review will provide evidence of how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on the professional lives of women in academia, and contribute to the development of strategies to reduce gender inequities. It is imperative that these issues be identified and strategies developed to address growing inequities in the professional wellbeing of women academics.Systematic review registrationOpen Science Framework: https://osf.io/9rxku, DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/9RXKU