Developing and delivering personal and professional development for women in higher education

Abstract

Concern has been expressed for a number of years in the press and inside United Kingdom universities about the small number of women who are in senior positions in university teaching, research and administration, despite having achieved considerable academic success during almost half a century of equal educational opportunities; and, since publication of the Sex Discrimination Act in 1975, recourse to the law in cases of alleged discrimination in the workplace. The staff development programmes for women which are described have been seen as one response to addressing this imbalance. The article outlines the rationale for the initiatives and identifies some of the issues within the culture of higher education which are of particular relevance to women. Some of the challenges which have been raised to the concept of ‘women only’ courses are considered and some questions raised about the future format and focus of such programmes.