ERIC Number: EJ824689
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0818-8068
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The Evisceration of Equal Employment Opportunity in Higher Education
Thornton, Margaret
Australian Universities' Review, v50 n2 p59-70 2008
With particular regard to gender, this paper considers the rise and fall of EEO in Australian universities over the last 30 years. The paper argues that EEO, a product of social liberalism, had barely been introduced before it became a casualty of the Dawkins reforms and the transformation of the university. Corporatisation resulted in top-down managerialism and the production of academics as neoliberal subjects. Within this context, identity politics either moved to the periphery or disappeared altogether, so far as staff were concerned. The discourse of equality was quickly displaced by new discourses, such as that of diversity, which better suited the market metanarrative. The market has also induced a shift away from staff to students, inviting the question as to whether EEO is now passe.
Descriptors: Higher Education, Equal Opportunities (Jobs), Critical Theory, Social Justice, Educational Policy, Policy Analysis, Politics of Education, Foreign Countries, Trend Analysis, Governance, Employment Opportunities, Employment Practices
National Tertiary Education Union. PO Box 1323, South Melbourne 3205, Australia. Tel: +61-3-92541910; Fax: +61-3-92541915; e-mail: editor@aur.org.au; Web site: http://www.aur.org.au
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A