Abstract
This paper reports a research project on womenlaw professors in the U.K. Despite theirsimilar social and educational backgrounds,successful women legal academics disclosemarked differences in their perceptions of theinfluence of gender on their work identities.Many emphasise the caring and pastoral rolesthey adopt, or are expected to adopt.Organisational cultures also emerge as asignificant factor in determining the genderexperiences of women law professors. The fewwith experience as head of school downplay thesignificance of gender while simultaneouslyacknowledging the influence of genderconstructions and expectations.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Acker, S. and Feuerverger, G., “Doing Good and Feeling Bad: the Work of Women University Teachers”, Cambridge Journal of Education 26/3 (1996), 401–422.
Alvesson, M. and Billing, Y., Understanding Gender and Organizations (London: Sage, 1997).
Association of University Teachers, Sex Discrimination in Universities (London: A.U.T., 1992).
AUT Woman 45 (1998).
Becher, T., Academic Tribes and Territories: Intellectual Enquiry and the Cultures of Disciplines (Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1989).
Bett, M., Independent Review of Higher Education Pay and Conditions (London: Stationery Office, 1999).
Blake, M. and La Valle, I., Who Applies for Research Funding? (London: Wellcome Trust, 2000).
Bocon, L., “Beyond the Degree: Men andWomen at the Decision-Making Levels in British Higher Education”, Gender and Education 11 (1999), 5–25.
Brewis, J., “How Does it Feel? Women Managers, Embodiment and Changing Public-Sector Cultures”, in Transforming Managers: Gendering Change in the Public Sector, eds. S. Whitehead & R. Moodley (London: Taylor and Francis, 1999), 84–106.
Brooks, A., Academic Women (Buckingham: S.R.H.E. and Open University Press, 1997).
Carle, S., “Gender in the Construction of the Lawyer's Persona”, Harvard Women's Law Journal 22 (1999), 238–250.
Cockburn, C., In the Way of Women: Men's Resistance to Sex Equality in Organisations (London: MacMillan, 1991).
Collinson, D. and Hearn, J., eds., Men as Managers, Managers as Men (London: Sage, 1996).
Commission on University Career Opportunity (C.U.C.O.), A Report on Universities Policies and Practices on Equal Opportunities in Employment (London: C.V.C.P., 1994).
Commission on University Career Opportunity, A Report on Policies on Equal Opportunities in Employment in Universities and Colleges in Higher Education (London: C.V.C.P., 1997).
Conaghan, J., “Reassessing the Feminist Theoretical Project in Law”, Journal of Law and Society 27 (2000), 351–385.
Coser, R.L., “Where Have all the Women Gone? Like the Sediment of Good Wine, They Have Sunk to the Bottom”, in Access to Power: Cross-National Studies of Women and Elites eds. C.F. Epstein & R.J. Coser (Boston: George Allen and Unwin, 1981).
Cownie, F., “Women Legal Academics – A New Research Agenda?” Journal of Law and Society 25 (1998), 102–123.
Cree, V., “Surviving on the Inside: Reflections on Being a Woman and a Feminist in a Male Academic Institution”, Social Work Education 16 (1997), 37–60.
Crompton, R., ed., Restructuring Gender Relations in Employment: the Decline of the Male Breadwinner (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999).
Crompton, R., “The Decline of the Male Breadwinner: Explanations and Interpretations”, in Restructuring Gender Relations in Employment: the Decline of the Male Breadwinner, ed. R. Crompton (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 1–25.
David, M. & Woodward, D., eds., Negotiating the Glass Ceiling: Careers of Senior Women in the Academic World (London: Falmer Press, 1998).
Deech, R., “An Oxford History”, in Against the Tide; Career Paths of Women Leaders in American and British Higher Education, ed. K.D. Walton (Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, 1996), 81–92.
Deem, R., “State Policy and Ideology in the Education of Women 1944–1980”, British Journal of the Sociology of Education 2 (1981), 131.
Deem, R., “Power and Resistance in the Academy: the Case of Women Academic Managers”, in Transforming Managers: Gendering Change in the Public Sector, eds. S. Whitehead & R. Moodley (London: Taylor and Francis 1999), 66–84.
Equal Opportunities Commission, Women in Senior Management in Wales (Cardiff: E.O.C., 1999).
Farish, M., McPake, J., Powney, J. & Weiner, G., eds., Equal Opportunities in Colleges and Universities – Towards Better Practices (Buckingham: S.R.H.E. and Open University Press, 1995).
Farley, C. Haight, “Confronting Expectations: Women in the Legal Academy”, Yale Jnl of Law and Feminism 8 (1996), 333–358.
Gherardi, S., Gender, Symbolism and Organizational Cultures (London: Sage Publications, 1995).
Guinier, L. Fine, Balin J., Bartow A. & Stachel D.L., “Becoming Gentlemen: Women's Experiences at One Ivy League Law School”, University of Pennsylvania Law Review 143 (1994), 1–16.
Halsey, A., Decline of Donnish Dominion: The British Academic Professions in the Twentieth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993).
Hearn, J., “Men, Managers and Management: the Case of Higher Education”, in Transforming Managers: Engendering Change in the Public Sector, eds. S. Whitehead & R. Moodley (London: U.C.L. Press, 1999), 123–144.
Higher Education Statistics Agency (H.E.S.A.), Students in Higher Education Institutions 1996/7 (Cheltenham: H.E.S.A., 1997).
Hull, K. & Nelson, R., “Gender Inequality in Law: Problems in Structure and Agency in Recent Studies of Gender in Anglo-American Legal Professions”, Law and Social Inquiry 23 (1998), 681–704.
Kinnman, G., Pressure Points: A Survey into the Causes and Consequences of Occupational Stress in U.K. Academics and Related Staff (London: A.U.T., 1998).
Kirkland, J., “The Missing Women Library Directors: Deprivation Versus Mentoring”, Coll Res Libr. 58 (1997), 376–384.
Illing, D., “Half of Uni staff 'are Distressed'”, The Australian 30 March 2001.
Lacey, N., Unspeakable Subjects (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 1998).
Lafferty, G. & Fleming, J., “The Restructuring of Academic Work in Australia; Power, Management and Gender”, Brit Journal of Sociology of Education 21 (2000), 257–267.
Le Feuvre, N., “Gender, Occupational Feminization, and Reflexivity: A Cross-National Perspective”, in Restructuring Gender Relations in Employment: the Decline of the Male Breadwinner, ed. R. Crompton (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 150–179.
Leonard P. & Malina D., “Caught Between Two Worlds: Mothers as Academics”, in Changing the Subject: Women in Higher Education, eds. S. Davies, C. Lubelska & J. Quinn (London: Taylor and Francis, 1994), 29.
Levit, N., “Keeping Feminism in its Place: Sex Segregation and the Domestication of Female Academics”, University of Kansas Law Rev. 49 (2001), 775–807.
Lie, S. Stiver & O'Leary, V., Storming the Tower: Women in the Academic World (London: Kogan Page, 1990).
McGlynn, C., The Woman Lawyer (London: Butterworths, 1998).
McGlynn, C., “The Business of Equality in the Solicitors Profession”, Modern Law Review 63 (2000), 442–456.
McGlynn, C., “Women, Representation and the Legal Academy”, Legal Studies 19 (1999), 68–92.
McNabb, R. & Wass, V., “Male-female Salary Differentials in British Universities”, Oxford Economic Papers 49 (1997), 328–343.
Mather, L., Chapter 1.03 in Women in the Legal Profession, eds. U. Schultz & G. Shaw (Hart Publishing, forthcoming).
Miller, J. & Glassner, B., “The 'Inside' and the 'Outside': Finding Realities in Interviews”, in Qualitative Research, ed. D. Silverman (London: Sage, 1997).
Morley, L. & Walsh, V., eds. Breaking Boundaries: Women in Higher Education (London: Taylor and Francis, 1996).
Morley, L., Organising Feminisms: The Micropolitics of the Academy (Basingstoke: MacMillan Press, 1999).
Mossman, M.J., “Gender Issues in Teaching Methods: Reflections on Shifting the Paradigm”, Legal Education Review 6 (1998), 129–152.
Naffine N., “In Praise of Legal Feminism: A View from Australia”, Legal Studies 21 (2001) issue 1.
Powney, J. & Weiner, G., Outside of the Norm: Equity and Management in Educational Institutions (London: South Bank University, 1992).
Saramago, J., All the Names, translated by M. J. Costa (London: Harvill Press, 1999).
Segal, L., Why Feminism? (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1999).
Silverman, D., ed., Qualitative Research (London: Sage, 1997).
Sommerlad, H. & Sanderson, P., Gender Choice and Commitment: Women Solicitors in England and Wales and the Struggle for Equal Status (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998).
Thomas, R. & Davies, A., “Gender and New Public Management: Reconstituting Academic Subjectivities”, forthcoming.
Thornton, M., “Discord in the Academy: The Case of the Feminist Scholar”, Australian Feminist Law Journal 3 (1994), 53.
Thornton, M., “Authority and Corporeality: The Conundrum forWomen in Law”, Feminist Legal Studies 6 (1998), 147–170.
Thornton, M. Dissonance and Distrust: Women in the Legal Profession (Melbourne: Oxford University Press Australia, 1996).
Trow, M., Managerialism and the Academic Profession: Quality and Control (London: Quality Support Centre, 1994).
Wajcman, J., Managing Like a Man: Women and Men in Corporate Management (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1998).
Wells, C., “Exceptional Women or Honorary Men?” in Current Legal Problems, Vol. 53, ed. M. Freeman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 181–205.
Wells, C., “Working Out Women in Law Schools”, Legal Studies 21 (2001a), 116–136.
Wells, C., “Ladies in Waiting: the Women Law Professors' Story”, Sydney Law Review 3 (2001b), 167–184.
Whitehead, S. & Moodley, R., Transforming Managers: Gendering Change in the Public Sector (London: Taylor and Francis, 1999).
Whitehead, S., “New Women, New Labour? Gendered Transformations in the House”, in Transforming Managers: Gendering Change in the Public Sector ed. S. Whitehead & R. Moodley (London: Taylor and Francis, 1999), 19–33.
Woodward, D. & Ross, K., Managing Equal Opportunities in Higher Education: A Guide to Understanding and Action (Buckingham: Open University Press, 2000).
Wyn, J., Acker, S. & Richards, E., “Making a Difference: Women in Management in Australian and Canadian Universities”, Gender and Education 12 (2000), 435–447.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wells, C. Women Law Professors – Negotiating and Transcending Gender Identities at Work. Feminist Legal Studies 10, 1–38 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014996929238
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014996929238