A qualitative study on experiences of inequality experienced by women academics in higher education

This study aims to reveal the various obstacles and gender inequalities that women academics experience in everyday and academic life. Therefore, this study focuses on the meaning of being a woman academic. In order to reveal the inequality experiences of women academics, qualitative research was used. The data obtained as a result of in-depth interviews are presented using descriptive analysis. With descriptive analysis, the data are presented with direct quotations by adhering to the original form of the data. In this study, phenomenology research design was used in terms of the importance of the meanings and interpretations derived from the data obtained. In this study, in-depth interviews were conducted with 25 female academics from Düzce University. According to the findings, female academics are in a disadvantaged position compared to male academics in daily and academic life. The reasons for this situation are the socialization processes of individuals, patriarchal perspective in society, stereotypes and social expectations. The roles and expectations attributed to women and men differ from each other, and this situation is reflected in the daily life of female academics as well as in their academic life, creating gender inequalities. Therefore, due to patriarchal social structure, perspectives and stereotypes, it is concluded that women academics face problems such as not being able to take part in management mechanisms in academic life, experiencing queen bee syndrome, facing inequality in staff distribution, experiencing gender-based segregation between sciences, being exposed to mobbing, etc. The existence of various reasons such as these leads to the conclusion that women academics experience gender inequality and discrimination in higher education institutions.