Universities and discrimination
By Lisa Macdonald
Statements made on June 29 by University of Sydney Chancellor Leonie Kramer have provoked justifiable anger among women academics and feminist groups around Australia.
In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Kramer argued that women were failing to make it to the top of the academic and managerial ladder in academia, not because of discrimination, but because they lacked the confidence or necessary qualifications for promotion. She added that while women, unlike men, do not have huge egos, they tend to "go limp when things get tough", they "talk too much" and, on many occasions, "trade on their femininity".
Following criticism of her claims, Kramer has called on her critics to "produce substantial evidence of systemic discrimination", reasserting in an open letter on July 11 that she knew of "no discriminatory impediments to the progress of women".
Kramer's comments are indeed ill informed, inaccurate and dangerous. She has chosen to ignore the volumes of research which demonstrate the persistent under-representation of women graduates and staff in tertiary education generally and in non-traditional courses in particular — despite equal opportunity policies, affirmative action practices and increased consciousness about gender inequality, which have developed over the past decade. In so doing, Kramer has revealed a degree of ignorance and/or subjectivity which does not accord with her public image as a successful intellectual.
What Kramer has done is to blame the victim. This is an old, much-used method which, whatever the motive, diverts attention from the real causes of inequality, and demoralises and divides oppressed groups so they are less willing and able to fight their oppression. In employing it, Kramer has unequivocally aligned herself with the forces of the backlash.
Equal access to education has been one of the cornerstone demands of the women's liberation movement since its beginnings. From the huge literacy campaigns carried out by socialist revolutions in Third World countries such as Cuba and Nicaragua, to the campaigns early this century by the blue-stockinged women at universities in the developed world, the struggle for education rights has always been recognised as integral to the struggle for freedom from oppression.
The battle by women to assume senior positions in universities is obviously one aspect of the broader struggle to achieve equality of opportunity and outcomes in education for women. It is not, however, the most significant indicator of failure or success in this struggle. On the contrary.
In the 1980s and '90s a small but increasing number of women have succeeded in winning senior positions in the private and public sector — despite the continued institutionalisation of gender inequality in our society and the fact that, for the majority of women, conditions have not improved over the past decade. The average wage for most women workers is actually declining, both in real terms and relative to men doing the same work. According to a DEET study released last week, the proportion of women enrolled in undergraduate courses at universities actually began declining in 1993.
Without the development of a feminist movement which seriously challenges the systemic discrimination against all women in all fields of life under capitalism — discrimination which locates women behind the eight ball long before they aspire to a university degree — gradually increasing the number of women holding senior posts in the hallowed halls of academia will not count for much in the struggle for women's liberation.