Woods, Brett (2024) A Critical Feminist Examination of Gender Power Relations in Two University Residential Colleges in Melbourne, Victoria. Research Master thesis, Victoria University.

Abstract

Gender inequality in educational contexts under-researched in university residential settings, where gendered violence persists at worryingly high levels, despite increasing regulatory governance. Local, contextualised gender power relations, which normalise men’s domination over women, need to be disrupted and reordered to enable women’s safety and equality in university residential colleges. However, the research examining gender power relations in Australian universities, particularly in the distinct, complex institutional setting of university colleges, is limited. To address this gap, this research used a critical feminist theoretical lens to examine the manner in which gender power relations are maintained and/or countered in university residential colleges. The research further examined the manner in which gender power relations are maintained and/or countered through the institutional structures of student leaders, college administrations, student-led activities and informal policies and the traditions, attitudes, norms and beliefs they produce and uphold. As literature relating to the multidimensional institutional context of the unique Australian university residential setting is limited, and university residential settings are structurally distinct from universities where much of the relevant literature focuses, this thesis presented and discussed the contextual frame which informed the research design and data analysis. The research adopted critical qualitative methods to gather and analyse data through six focus group interviews with student leaders, senior students and residential advisors (n = 74) in two university residential college sites in Melbourne, Australia. The research found that the patriarchal gender ideology in the sites normalised men’s dominance and women’s subordination in localised gender power relations and was characterised by benevolent sexism, gender essentialism, cisnormativity, heteronormativity, and restrictive gendered norms and stereotypes in the sites. The research found that hegemonic gender power relations in the sites were maintained through the complex structures of the institution of the university residential college, reinforced by student leaders and college administrations. Further, harmful gender power relations are sustained through attitudes, norms and beliefs (as evident in the gendered division of labour in the sites); the uncritical re-enactment of traditions handed down by alumni and returning students (particularly present in traditional social events and rituals); and through student-led extracurricular social and sporting activities (often in communal spaces). In line with the critical feminist theoretical orientation of this thesis, the research was oriented towards structural change. The research found that student leaders hold social capital and social power, acting as ‘cultural gatekeepers’ in the sites, and are committed to (and already enacting) leadership to create change in their colleges. As a result, the research concludes that student leaders are central to the transformation of gender power relations in college settings. Finally, the thesis found that women students are engaging in everyday acts of resistance and seeking allyship from their men peers, and concludes that these prefigurative acts should be fostered to promote collective, structural transformation in university residential colleges. This study offers implications for policy and programmatic efforts to disrupt harmful gender power relations in the unique context of the university residential setting, to promote women’s equality and prevent gendered violence.

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