Gender and the restructured university: Changing management and culture in higher education.

Edited by Anne Brooks and Alison Mackinnon Buckingham: Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press, 2001. 190pp.

In the last three decades, the higher education sector in Australia has undergone a series of fundamental changes. The editors state that global factors are increasingly impacting on the Australian university sector. These include the increasing trend to treat knowledge as a commodity, the restructuring of universities so that they are more like corporate organizations, and the concurrent associated effect of role change for members of academic staff.

Various contributors to this book contend that, as the above have impacted in the higher education sector, the power of academic women has become increasingly 'marginalized'. This contention rests on the argument that continued resource cutbacks have led to the over-representation of women among the group of academics who are casualized, de-professionalized, and compensating for the lack of resources in the 'nurturing' and 'non-academic' activities. That male management styles continue to be reinforced at the expense of other more 'feminized' management styles and that there is a move from academic autonomous professional to self-managed professionals of academic staff in the corporate university. The conclusion is that, although periods of change provide opportunities to improve systems, this has not occurred for women academics and it may be that the reverse has occurred, although little or no evidence of this is provided in the text. A greater clarity of the concept of 'marginalized' in this context and a definition of the restructured university would have assisted the reader greatly.

Some of the contributors to this book can, and do, successfully contribute to a complex debate that is essential at this time to the development of equity within the higher education sector. Others provide articles that are descriptive, revisit without moving the debate on, focus previously discussed information on the newly arrived challenges without establishing clear links or definitions, or do not provide information that progresses the debate. The chapters within the book sections might have been edited to provide tighter themes for the reader.

1 Restructuring global knowledge Brooks contends that, even though contemporary marginalism has many of the features of management styles traditionally associated with women managers, and therefore women academics should have succeeded during the change to managerialism in the new corporate university, they have not for a number of reasons. Brooks, however, does not establish why not, or provide the reader with food for further thought.

Blackmore and Sachs report the reflections of 50 academic women in leadership positions who describe their work as increasingly demanding because of the unrelenting introduction of change. The contention that this is a feminist issue--'Feminist academics had the added stress of being expected to be both active researchers and committed to teaching' (p. 47)--is not convincing because the same claim could equally be, and is being, made by male colleagues.

2 Gendered work cultures Hearn reflects on the interconnectedness between academe, management and men and provides a comprehensive overview of the subject area--a range of information and then uses this to explore the implications in a way that stimulates thought. This is a well-written chapter that engaged the reader.

Currie and Thiele draw on cross-cultural data to establish that change has not occurred for women. The data were collected during a cross-cultural study undertaken in the mid 1990s that asked respondents to explain the treatment of men and women in academic settings. These findings are extrapolated to explain how globalization trends may be currently impacting on academe. The data provided are now dated and the argument linking the global issues to the data difficult to follow. The suggestion that answers may be found in understanding that best practice is not homogeneous may provide the impetus for debate on how individual universities can retain their identity, provide for diversity, and succeed within the global context.

3 Women managing change Bacchi states well the current issues involved in managing equity--mainstreaming and diversity in Australian universities, provides a balanced view of the concerns and then challenges the reader about further debate.

Munford and Rumball provide an overview of the New Zealand experience. The authors note that resisting change and modeling female approaches to decision making are important for women but risky. The authors suggest that women be alert to context and strategies for change and adopt collaborative approaches. Any discussion on how women achieve this balance was not attempted, which was disappointing.

Allen and Castleman restate that the pipeline effect did not work for women and, in the global context, is still not working. They suggest that it is time to dispose of the myth of the pipeline and move the discourse on. The chapter does not, however, offer suggestions of how or where to begin the replacement.

Ramsay provides a description of her personal experience as a change leader in academe which is interesting and honest and does not leave the reader either better placed to plan or approach change in the future or open the subject area for future discourse.

Cher Wallance

Monash University