The patron system in academia: Alternative strategies for empowering academic women

In this paper we present an typology of the academic patron system which differentiates among its various functions in terms of the type of power academic patrons have (formal or informal) and the kind of faculty orientation they have (professional or organizational). Using the dichotomies of authority (formal power) or influence (informal power) and professional orientation (cosmopolitan) or organizational orientation (local), four types of academic patronage are identified: professional authority, organizational authority, professional influence, and organizational influence. For each type of academic patronage, associated strategies for empowering women are discussed. These strategies are considered in terms of the extent to which they affect not only ‘professional enfranchisement’, i.e. access, but also ‘professional efficacy’, i.e. a sense of personal power, of being in control, of having the ability to make a difference, for academic women. We conclude that the effective use of professional and organizational influence offers the best hope for the inclusion of women in academia and for changing the academic bureaucracy from a system of ‘participatory autocracy’ to a system of true collegiality.     

The prototypicality of gender: Contemporary notions of masculine and feminine

Femininity and masculinity, as abstract, nonbiological concepts, are very difficult to define. Culturally and socially induced, they are subject to drastic change over time. This article presents prototypical notions of feminine and masculine, as they appeared from a categorisation test performed by Dutch students. The interdisciplinary combination of feminist theory and cognitive linguistics enabled a consideration of various interrelated questions, and their implications for feminist criticism. Can we speak of possibly significant changes in contemporary views from the traditional, well-known views of masculine and feminine?