Management and gender in higher education / Pat O'Connor.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

O'Connor, Pat, 1950- author.

Series:

Irish society.

Irish society

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women in higher education--Ireland.

Women in higher education.

Sex discrimination in education--Ireland.

Sex discrimination in education.

Educational leadership--Ireland.

Educational leadership.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 210 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Manchester ; New York : Manchester University Press, 2014.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

This book provides a definitive examination of higher education: exploring its nature and purpose, and locating it in the context of the state and the market. It presents new research on an elite group: senior managers in universities. They are relatively powerful in relation to their students and staff but relatively powerless in relation to wider neo-liberal forces. Written in a clear, student friendly, accessible style, and drawing on policy analysis and interviews with those at the top three levels of university management, it provides an in-depth analysis of the structures, cultures and practices at that level and locates these in a cross national context. Through the eyes of these senior managers, we are able to understand this gendered world, where four fifths of those in these positions are men, and to consider the implications of this in a world where diversity is crucial for innovation. Despite the managerialist rhetoric of accountability, we see structures where access to power is effectively through the Presidents' 'blessing,' very much as in a medieval court. We see a culture that is less than comfortable with the presence of women, and which in its narratives, stereotypes and interactions exemplifies a rather 19th century view of women. Sites and agents of change are identified: both in the universities and in the wider international policy context. Essential for undergraduate and postgraduate students and their lecturers in education, management, sociology policy and gender studies, it will challenge them to critically reflect on management and on higher education.

Contents:

Cover; Management and gender in higher education; Contents; Series editor's foreword; Acknowledgements; Prologue: my own journey; 1 The big picture: un iversities in a changing society; 2 Finding a compass and mapping the terrain; 3 Policy priorities: instrumentality, scientization, degendering; 4 Gentleman's club or medieval court?; 5 There is no problem; or, if there is, the problem is women; 6 'Think manager-think male'?; 7 An attractive job, but no place for a woman?; 8 Summary and conclusions; Appendix: socioe-conomic realities in contemporary Irish society; References; Index

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 15 May 2026).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781526103109

1526103109

9781526103093

1526103095

9781781706800

1781706808

OCLC:

894476902