ABSTRACT
In current economic, political and social contexts there is significant pressure on educators and employers to respond to what are regularly defined as increasingly diverse student and employee populations. This requires attention to the needs of those (such as women) who, historically, have had limited access to both education and employment. Conceptualising the ‘needs’ of these women in productive and non-reductive ways, however, is not a simple task. Even with the best of intentions it is easy to homogenise and to essentialise the categories ‘women students’ or ‘women workers’ in ways which deny the differences within the group and which ultimately contribute to the categorisation of women as different to men and naturally suited to different contexts and experiences.
