[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-595335-105":59,"doc-detail-595335-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","the-brick-wall-why-so-few-women-becomes-senior-academics","The Brick Wall - Why so few women becomes senior academics","","The text examines how women face a “brick wall” in advancing to higher echelons of the academic hierarchy, despite well-known discussions of the “glass ceiling.” It reports consistently low and static figures for female representation among senior academic ranks across multiple countries, highlighting a gap between formal affirmative action policies and actual implementation. Evidence from Australia and other nations shows limited change over time, variation between universities, and concerns about underfunded enforcement.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-brick-wall-why-so-few-women-becomes-senior-academics/595335/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-brick-wall-why-so-few-women-becomes-senior-academics/595335.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Blitz","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":19},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What does the author mean by a “brick wall” in academia?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It refers to the resistance women encounter when trying to enter the top levels of the academic hierarchy, where progress is extremely limited despite reform efforts.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Why does the text suggest formal policy does not lead to results?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It describes a gap between stated equal opportunity directives and real implementation, including issues like insufficient funding and weak compliance.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What evidence is presented about women’s representation in senior roles?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The text cites low percentages of women among senior academic grades in multiple countries, including detailed examples from the Netherlands, Sweden, and Australia, and notes persistent discrepancies.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},595335,1792080934,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":19,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":81,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":39,"preview_page_count":4},24464137899374,"https://us-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","The Brick Wall:Why so few women becomesenior academics  \nCarol Bacchi,  \nAustraliam National University  \nMost people have heard of the‘glass ceiling'—that impenetrablebarrierfacing women who aspire to topmanagement positions.Thereis another domain which has proved equally resistant to women'sefforts to enter —the higher echelons of the academic hierarchy.Here women have encountered a brick wall.Despite the manyattempts at reforminmany countries,which wewill look at below,thefigures remain depressingly low and static.In fact,the patter ofwomen's employment in universities is remarkably consistent acrossgrades and across countries.  \n18%Lecturers,Senior Lecturers,and Associate Professors.In 1988the Netherlands registered 2.1%female Full Professors and 4.6%Associate Professors,and in 1990 Sweden had 5%female FullProfessors and 20%female Senior Lecturers(Lie andO'Leary,1990,p.24;Hagman,1990).  \nThese figures are surprising particularly since the countries listedhave made concerted efforts over the past years to increase women’srepresentation in top academic ranks.Or,at least,there has beenformal policy directed towards this goal.The outcomes illustrate agap between formal policy and implementation which willbe exam-ined below.  \nTo begin in Australia,between 1977 and 1987,the proportion offemale Professors and Associate Professors increased by 2.8%,theproportion offemale Senior Lecturers and Lecturers by 6.7%,and theproportion of female Senior Tutors and Tutors by 9.7%.With theseincreases,women constituted 5.2%of the top category of academics,  \nReaders will doubtless have noted that Ihave felt it unnecessary todefend the need for an increase of female senior academics.As theargument develops,it willbecome clear that,in my view,defensive-ness is one of the chief problems which needs to be overcome.  \n17.8%of Senior Lecturers and Lecturers,and 44.4%of the lowestcategory,who were generally untenured(Gale andLindemann,1989,p.4).  \n# Attempts at reform\n\nThese figures reflect the situation before recent amalgations andomit staff figures from former Institutes of Technology and Collegesof Advanced Education,where more female staffcongregated.Henceit is not surprising that recent DEET(Department of Employment,Education,and Training)statistics indicate some changes,though thediscrepancy between the proportions of senior male and senior femalestaff is still marked.2  \nAustralia has had affirmative action legislation in place for somesix years now.The Affirmative Action (Equal Employment Oppor-tunity for Women)Act sets up a programme of eight steps whichcompanies with over 100employees andhigher education institutionsmust follow.The eight stepsinclude the obligationto collect statisticson labour force participation by gender,to appoint an equal opportu-nity officer,to set goals or targets,and objectives,and culminates ina directive to report annually on progress to the Affirmative ActionAgency,a federally funded supervisory body.The penalty ornoncompliance currently is being named in Parliament (Ronalds,1987).  \nThe most common explanation offered for this dismal result is thatwe are suffering a time lag effect,that the boom days of universitygrowthendedjust when women were demanding entry.Thepresump-tion is that the situation will right itself when growth returns.  \nFelicity Allen challenges this interpretation.She shows that therewas high turn-over in Australian universities throughout the 1980sand yet women's position has barely altered.She also indicates thatthere is wide variation across Australian universities in the propor-tions of senior academic fernales,undermining any simple,universalistexplanation.She asks,'In a relatively homogeneous society likeAustralia',what differences ‘...could account for the fact that theproportion of senior academic women at Macquarie University isthree times greater than the proportion at the University of Tasma-nia?”(Allen,1990a,p.25).  \nWe clearly need close studies of the relative successes of vari","cbCaifcy6QXhOcE1","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaifcy6QXhOcE1","pdf",264788,"English","# Attempts at reform\n## Policy measures and implementation gap\n## Australia’s affirmative action framework\n## Evidence from surveys and institutional case examples","[{\"question\":\"What does the author mean by a “brick wall” in academia?\",\"answer\":\"It refers to the resistance women encounter when trying to enter the top levels of the academic hierarchy, where progress is extremely limited despite reform efforts.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the text suggest formal policy does not lead to results?\",\"answer\":\"It describes a gap between stated equal opportunity directives and real implementation, including issues like insufficient funding and weak compliance.\"},{\"question\":\"What evidence is presented about women’s representation in senior roles?\",\"answer\":\"The text cites low percentages of women among senior academic grades in multiple countries, including detailed examples from the Netherlands, Sweden, and Australia, and notes persistent discrepancies.\"}]","The Brick Wall - Why so few women becomes senior academics | PDF"]