The Madwoman in the Academy: 43 Women Boldly Take on the Ivory Tower

Naomi Brun is a freelance writer and a book reviewer for The Hamilton
Spectator.

Deborah Keahey and Deborah Schnitzer, both English professors at the
University of Winnipeg, begin this anthology with an account of the
arduous road to publication. Apparently, some publishers found the
collection too negative for mass-market appeal. The University of
Calgary Press, on the other hand, believed that these stories needed
sharing, and in my opinion, both points of view have merit.

The Madwoman in the Academy chronicles the professional struggles of 43
academic women who find the term “alma mater” to be a form of cruel
irony. University structure is essentially hierarchical and patriarchal,
involving total dedication to a scholarly ideal. Being female is fine,
so long as one rejects the feminine to become an academic eunuch. This
decision transforms an intellectual into the embodiment of a feminist
statement, and women who make such choices may be allowed to advance up
the ladder of success. On the other hand, women who embrace femininity
are not so lucky. Jennifer Kelly, for instance, incurs unfair criticism
on her Ph.D. thesis because she has the audacity to be pregnant. In her
early years of university teaching, Jennifer Cahill experiences
difficulty building a solid reputation because she dresses too
fashionably and looks youthful. Most of the contributors paid dues
longer than their male counterparts did, and some never earned job
security because female professors are deemed poor investments for the
university. It seems, then, that there is little room for women in an
“alma mater.”

In keeping with its anti-establishment theme, this book embraces a wide
range of written forms. There are traditional essays, but there are also
e-mail messages, poems, stream-of-consciousness pieces, journal entries,
and even a mock dictionary.

All in all, The Madwoman in the Academy voices legitimate complaints
against the university system in a very personal way. Some will find the
contributions to be a breath of fresh air, and female academics will
find their own concerns brought to life on the page. Others may find the
negativity overwhelming, since there seems to be no workable solution
for a woman who wants a life that includes both books and babies.