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 three world leading, 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.

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

Book your place at: https://the-silencing-of-academic-women.eventbrite.co.uk

Programme:

2:30pm: Introduction - Professor Michaela Kendall, Professor of Energy Futures, Birmingham City University
2:35pm: Women at the University of Birmingham - Current actions and future targets, Professor Una Martin, DPVC Equalities, University of Birmingham
2:50pm: 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