Pursuing equity: How women academics are challenging gender norms and (re)shaping university culture in Ghana

This research focuses on the experiences of women faculty, PhD candidates and administrators, and the courses of action they employ to raise consciousness about systemic gender bias and pursue gender equity. I discuss the methodologies that participants use to overcome barriers and sensitize their social and professional environments to the experiences of women. Using nego-feminist theory and methods, participants initiate critical discourse with family, peers and institutional power holders, encouraging their respective families, colleagues, departments and universities to be gender-sensitive, reshaping their social and professional environments. Moving beyond their own departments, participants circumvent gender labour barriers and engage in collaborative co-development; building formal and informal networks, they effectively (re)create disrupted systems of support, furthering women's professional development. Women academics co-create anti-harassment policies and gender and advocacy centres, changing the institutional structures of their universities as part of their on-going pursuit of equity.