Where is equality? A dissertation on feminist academic activism in british universities.

Abstract

Until recent years, little attention has been paid to the discrimination that so-called minorised groups suffer within higher education in the UK. This dissertation acknowledges the power of feminist academic activism to tackle said discrimination. In order to explore this phenomenon, I firstly investigate how we acquire the stereotypes and prejudices that develop into discrimination, particularly within the academic environment. In the dissertation, I highlight the impact of teacher’s and parent’s roles and the influence of neoliberalism in academia, which raises barriers that hinder the careers of many scholars. I provide an overall picture of these barriers and their repercussion on the identities and well-being of many scholars, with specific interest on intersectional identities –such as racialised female academics. Finally, I delve into the relation between feminism, activism, and academia in order to prove that feminist academic activism is a valid countermeasure to the different forms of discrimination present in the academic environment of the UK. In fact, I conclude that feminist academic activism does not only contribute to the production of knowledge for social change, but it is also beneficial at a personal and individual level since it brings motivation, sense of comfort and contribution. In addition, I introduce three types of feminist academic activism as an illustration of the wide variety of courses of action that can assist with the enhancement of universities in the UK. A major limitation of this dissertation has been the lack of data regarding intersectional identities and gender identities aside from the traditional womanman binary paradigm. I believe the topic of my dissertation is worth of further research, for which greater attention to diversity and inclusion of identities should be drawn.