ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we aim to explore some complications faced by women in academia in their professional journeys. Following a conversation between Saba (graduate student) with Angel (author and full professor) – in which Angel shares her journey as an academic, and Saba further explores the persisting discrimination that women faculty contend with. Using both of their autoethnographic descriptions, Saba identified themes pertaining to both internal and external aspects of women faculty members’ experiences of discrimination; from imposed and then internalised perceptions of inadequacy, to frequent lack of recognition and promotion at the institutional level, including the difficulty that comes with being positioned as an English as an additional language (EAL)-speaking faculty. Recounting her own English learning journey and reflecting on visibly Muslim women in academia, Saba further emphasises the importance of representation, and validation of lived experiences.
