Equity Issues for Women in Higher Education: The Emergent Complexities of Social Identities, Pay Inequities and the Power of Women’s Groups

Abstract

The public and private benefits of higher education seem irrefutable, yet educational inequities continue to persist across gender, race, and socio-economic status throughout the United States. In this article, they author builds on earlier research and take an unabashed feminist perspective where the intersectionality of identities such as gender, race, class and sexual orientation are centered and where theory is directly linked to policy and practice (Hooks, 1984). This includes the nexus between the individual / economic (e.g. increased pay, health) and public / social good (e.g. increased community service, appreciation for diversity) of higher education that society must explore in greater detail in order to address educational gender inequities (Pasque 2010a).