Introduction: Being an Early Career Feminist Academic in a Changing Academy

Abstract

This book comes at a time of dramatic change in higher education (HE) around the globe; some of the fundamental principles underpinning HE are being questioned, forcing academics and the wider public to begin to ask what higher education is for and what the purpose of research is in society at large (for example, Collini 2012; Small 2013), as well as where work such as teaching or ‘citizenship’ duties fit within the wider scheme of an academic career and the methods by which this career should be judged and, increasingly, measured (Collini 2012: 37; Small 2013: 10). Within academia the pressures to perform exceptionally across all levels of teaching, research, and administration grow, yet, with research remaining the most prestigious part of the three main areas of an academic role, syphoning off teaching and administrative duties to academics who are earlier in their careers and often on short-term or hourly paid contracts is becoming more common, with highly negative results for the wellbeing and career progression of early career academics as well as the quality of teaching provided to students in HE.