Beating the Odds: A practical guide to navigating sexism in Australian universities

This humorous book about a serious topic will help women learn to beat the current odds for their university career success and achieve their full potential. Marcia Devlin's tough, funny and practical guide to kicking the system in the butt will give women who read it an unfair advantage and help them fight the odds and win.

Devlin tells it like it is and it's not good. Men hold 75 percent of senior university roles in Australia. There are 86 percent more male than female professors at the top of the academic scale. And these figures are not shifting, or not shifting fast enough. While the book addresses success in the academic setting, its advice will be relevant to many professional women in other settings.

In a book that is both a call to arms and a roadmap to success, Devlin draws on her own experiences and those of hundreds of women, many of whom she has mentored, to reveal the attitudes, tactics and frameworks that have proved successful against the odds.

Readers of Beating the Odds, will:

- identify exactly how and why sexism is holding their career back

- learn how to plan in ways that mitigate the odds stacked against them

- respond to sexist tactics such as being interrupted, spoken over, and having their ideas stolen

- become bad at housework at home and at work

- use the time, energy and goodwill they save by being bad at housework for their advancement

- harness their anger in constructive ways

- laugh in the face of the system that tries to hold them back.

In her clarion call to women, Devlin unashamedly seeks to undermine the sexist way that universities operate and start a revolution towards gender equality in our intellectual seats of power.

Marcia Devlin, PhD, has an academic career spanning 30 years. She has won numerous awards for her leadership and held roles such as senior deputy vice-chancellor and senior vice-president. Devlin is also a registered psychologist, specialising in leadership coaching, and a change consultant. She holds several board roles. An active researcher and prolific writer, Devlin's name appears on hundreds of publications in academic, media and popular outlets. Throughout her careers, she has mentored hundreds of women and influenced thousands more to understand and successfully navigate the sexism of their workplace and beat the odds. www.marciadevlin.com.au