The War on Academic Women: Reflections on Postfeminism in the Neoliberal Academy

Abstract

This article situates academic women within the context of a broader, societal war on women. It argues that the ideologies underlying postfeminism and neoliberalism intersect within the academy to deny, obscure, and delegitimize the continuing and systemic gender discrimination and sexism that so many women in higher education face. It also seeks to reclaim the use of terms such as sexism, misogyny, and patriarchy, which date to the second wave of the women’s movement in the 1970s, to underscore the fact that prefeminist sexism remains a powerful ideological force.