ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how culture shapes roles and possibilities for academic women in one university. In 1990 Costa Rica had one of the lowest illiteracy rates in Latin America, the second lowest illiteracy rate among rural women, and, with Argentina, the lowest gap between illiteracy rates of men and women. Educational equality does not necessarily mean social equality, and Costa Rican women face many obstacles. With few exceptions, families placed a premium on education, even for women. There were mixed opinions about whether women faced more obstacles than men in the election process or had equal power. With several notable exceptions, the women in positions of power in the University of Costa Rica were in departments or schools in which women constituted the majority or near majority. Academic women in Costa Rica did not embrace the term "feminist" as typically defined from a Western perspective.
