This week, I had to start researching for my CTW project. I wanted to use the results I found from my archival research and my survey to lead me into my topic for this project. I decided to try and enter a conversation around the idea of women’s inequality, specifically in college.
I started researching through an online database using the keywords: “gender inequality,” “higher education,” and college*. I received a total of 54 hits and started scrolling through the articles and journal entries. I saw a lot of your typical boring headlines and found nothing that interested me.
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After some digging, one article in particular caught my eye and it was titled, “Gender equality: universities are still all talk and too many trousers.” I thought that the title was funny and creative, so I got curious and took a deeper look into the article.
The author performed research on the gender equality seen within the universities in the UK and Europe. Interestingly, she found that there was a lack of respect for women’s expertise, less valued roles were directed towards women, and that motherhood must end any interest in career progression. Like seriously?
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I knew that women still faced inequalities in the workplace, but these findings surprised me. I wasn’t aware that this much inequity was present, especially at the college level. I figured that since attending college is a big deal, women would be equally represented among the men. Guess I was wrong.
This article inspired me to look into this issue further. For my research, I decided to focus on the opportunities and respect that college students and faculty members receive and also compare this between males and females.