Despite over thirty years of activism and legislation to eliminate discrimination, parity has yet to be achieved for women in academe. Enrollment growth, changes in undergraduate and graduate majors and baccalaureate degree attainment indicate improvement in women's status since the early 1970s. However, persistent salary differentials between male and female tenured faculty members, underrepresentation of women in leadership roles, senior faculty, chilly classroom and campus climates are some indicators of the persisting inequities for women in postsecondary education

This book describes policy discourse analysis as a framework for considering how those involved in policy-making efforts make use of discourses that inadvertently undermine the intended effect of the policies they set forth. Allan illustrates the methods of policy discourse analysis by describing their use in a study of 21 women's commission reports produced at four research universities in the U.S. from 1971-1996. In so doing, she highlights the important work of university women's commissions while uncovering policy silences and making visible the powerful discourses framing gender equity policy initiatives in higher education. Her findings reveals how dominant discourses of femininity, access, professionalism, race, and sexuality contribute to constructing women's status in complex and at times, contradictory ways.

This important volume will interest researchers across a number of disciplines including policy studies, educational leadership, higher education and cultural studies of education.

Despite over thirty years of activism and legislation to eliminate discrimination, parity has yet to be achieved for women in academe. This book describes policy discourse analysis as a framework for considering how those involved in policy-making efforts may make use of discourses that inadvertently undermine the intended effect of the policies they set forth. Allan illustrates the methods of policy discourse analysis by describing their use in a study of twenty-one women's commission reports. In so doing, she highlights the important work of university women's commissions while uncovering policy silences and making visible the powerful discourses framing gender equity policy initiatives in higher education. Her findings reveals how dominant discourses of femininity, access, professionalism, race, and sexuality contribute to constructing women's status in complex and at times, contradictory ways. This important volume will interest researchers across a number of disciplines including policy studies, educational leadership, higher education and cultural studies of education.

Reconstructing Policy in Higher Education highlights the work of accomplished and award-winning scholars and provides concrete examples of how feminist poststructuralism effectively informs research methods and can serve as a vital tool for policy makers, analysts, and practitioners. The research examines a range of topics of interest to scholars and professionals including: purposes of Higher Education, administrative leadership, athletics, diversity, student activism, social class, the history of women in postsecondary institutions, and quality and science in the globalized university.

Students enrolled in Higher Education and Educational Policy programs will find this book offers them tools for thinking differently about policy analysis and educational practice. Higher Education faculty, managers, deans, presidents, and policy makers will find this book contributes significantly to their own policy analysis, practice, and discourse.

Elizabeth J. Allan is an Associate Professor of Higher Education at the University of Maine where she is also an affiliated faculty member with the Women s Studies program.

Susan V. Iverson is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education Administration & Student Personnel at Kent State University where she is also an affiliated faculty member with the Women s Studies Program.

Rebecca Ropers-Huilman is a Professor of Higher Education at the University of Minnesota.

Reconstructing Policy in Higher Education highlights the work of accomplished and award-winning scholars and provides concrete examples of how feminist poststructuralism effectively informs research methods and can serve as a vital tool for policy makers, analysts, and practitioners. The research examines a range of topics of interest to scholars and professionals including: purposes of Higher Education, administrative leadership, athletics, diversity, student activism, social class, the history of women in postsecondary institutions, and quality and science in the globalized university.

Students enrolled in Higher Education and Educational Policy programs will find this book offers them tools for thinking differently about policy analysis and educational practice. Higher Education faculty, managers, deans, presidents, and policy makers will find this book contributes significantly to their own policy analysis, practice, and discourse.

Elizabeth J. Allan is an Associate Professor of Higher Education at the University of Maine where she is also an affiliated faculty member with the Women s Studies program.

Susan V. Iverson is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education Administration & Student Personnel at Kent State University where she is also an affiliated faculty member with the Women s Studies Program.

Rebecca Ropers-Huilman is a Professor of Higher Education at the University of Minnesota.