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Lifelong learning is a key feature of society today, and is apparently embraced by a wide range of educators and trainers, as well as by governments and employers. In this wide-ranging book, Sue Jackson shows that universities have been slow to embrace a lifelong learning agenda, and argues that the lifelong learning experiences of women – and especially of working-class students – are seldom welcomed in the academy. In its unique considerations of the experiences of women students and academics, this book expounds an innovative and critical analysis of women in higher education. It will give a clear indication of alternative strategies for learners, teachers and policy makers. This book will be of key interest to anyone working in the fields of lifelong learning or continuing education who is interested in making learning accessible and meaningful for disadvantaged groups. It will also appeal to students of education, women's studies, gender studies and sociology; and to those interested in issues of gender, social class, feminist theory and feminist research.

CONCEPTUALISING CHALLENGES AND NEGOTIATIONS FOR WOMEN IN HIGHER EDUCATION 1 2 3 Pamela Cotterill, Sue Jackson and Gayle Letherby 1 2 3 Staffordshire University; Birkeck, University of London; University of Plymouth INTRODUCTION Despite the historical tradition of academia as a male space (Evans, 1995; Abbott et al, 2005; Stanley, 1997; Letherby, 2003) it is possible to argue that the expansion of higher education in the 1980s and 1990s benefited women more than it did men. By 1995 there were two and a half times more women in the academy than in 1970/1 (Abbott et al 2005), and in the decade to follow the numbers of women undergraduate students had overtaken men with a substantial minority of these being older, non-standard entrants. Furthermore, as Paula J Caplan (1997: 3) argues: Visions of the academic life draw us women toward it, picturing an intellectual community whose members search with passion and integrity for Truth and Knowledge. We imagine that in academia we shall find freedom from bias, freedom from worldly struggles of power and wealth, freedom to choose what to study and what to say, and an environment characterized by tolerance and openness, where everyone's energy is focused on the open exploration of ideas. However, whilst this may be the vision for some women, it is important not to view this widening of female participation in higher education through ‘rose tinted glasses'.