Understanding Female Mid-Career Professional Trajectories in Higher Education

Abstract

This chapter provides an insight into the trinity of pedagogy, research, and knowledge exchange, which now characterises all strategic and operational levels of United Kingdom (UK) higher education institutions (HEIs). All have important implications for the degree of agency women are afforded within their everyday professional practice. By framing issues such as embodiment, political lenses such as neoliberalism, and the national initiatives which influence the sector to such a great deal in the UK, the chapter is used as a means of considering various aspects of professional organisations that afford female mid-career professionals so much, yet at the same time can pose challenges to promotion and developmental progression. It also highlights the broad consideration of the challenges of professional development, being able to refocus female academic careers and personal lives following the global pandemic and the impact on framing professional identity.