Feminism and Behaviourism in Academia: Strategies for Change

Abstract

This paper considers the employment of women academics in Australia and describes ideological sources of individual cognitions about the acceptability of the jobs typically performed by women in academia. A cognitive-behavioural model is used to explore the role of certain group behaviours in maintaining power divisions between the sexes. It is suggested that women can control aspects of their interactions with others in ways that might facilitate their promotion. The importance of time and resource management in making these changes is emphasised. The questions of reconciling the issues of feminism and behaviourism in dealing with co-workers in tertiary education are discussed. The context is not a client/therapist interaction and the model of behaviour change underlying this article is participant rather than administrative, in that it assumes that at least some members of both sexes within Australian universities will take responsibility for self-directed behaviour change. The purpose of this paper is to consider the areas of academic politics, both micro and macro, which might be susceptible to change by people using self-directed behaviour modification techniques.