Hidden transcripts: The micropolitics of gender in Commonwealth universities

The knowledge economy is a globalised policy discourse which relates particularly to higher education. The findings from the empirical data in the five countries, backed up by international literature, suggest that for many women, entry into higher education can be a means of mitigating gender oppression e.g. via social mobility, financial independence, professional identity and academic authority. However, this is accompanied by contradictions and tensions as women experience a range of discriminatory practices, gendered processes and exclusions within higher education itself. Women report male privilege in pedagogical processes, assessment, promotion and research opportunities and management. A repeated theme is how women perceive fewer opportunities to develop academic capital and how women's professional and intellectual capital are devalued and misrecognised in the knowledge economy.All five countries reported that gender has a significant impact on academic and professional identity formation. Gendered power relations symbolically and materially construct and regulate women's everyday experiences of higher education. Similar concerns about women's unequal status are articulated in spite of different socio-economic and national policy contexts. The gendered environment impedes women's progress as staff and has a detrimental effect on the learning environment for students. Gendered differences are relayed and reinforced in classrooms, boardrooms, and via everyday social practices. These practices need to be exposed and challenged in order for the wider aspirations of gender equity policy initiatives to be achieved.

Endnote

¹ This means something below standard, of poor quality.     

The Impact of Mindfulness Meditation and Self-Compassion on Criminal Impulsivity in a Prisoner Sample

Previous studies indicate a link between mindfulness practice and improvements in self-compassion Neff (Self and identity 2(2):85–101, 2003b), self-regulation Baer (Clinical psychology: Science and practice 10(2):125–143, 2003), and a reduction in criminality Rainforth (Journal of Offender Rehabilitation 36(1–4):181–203, 2003). Similarly, self-compassion has been linked to greater self-control among criminals Morley (Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma 1–15, 2016). The focus of this study was to investigate the impact of mindfulness meditation and self-compassion on criminal impulsivity. To accomplish this investigation, a survey was conducted examining self-compassion as a mediator for the practice of mindfulness-based meditation and criminal impulsivity among jail inmates interested in meditation. The analysis showed that self-compassion, criminal impulsivity, and length of practicing mindfulness meditation were correlated. The results also showed that the relationship between practicing mindfulness meditation and self-reported criminal impulsivity was mediated by self-compassion. The results and limitations of this study were discussed.