Starting with gender : definitional politics in international higher education research

The decision to research ‘gender’ in relation to higher education may appear to be a simple step to take. In any chosen higher education context, there are numerical and social differences that can be classified as relevant to gender. However the decision to research ‘gender’—and the way this research is then planned and conducted—belies a complex set of conceptual and political factors (Henderson, 2015; Scott, 1991; Wiegman, 2002). It is through these intertwined conceptual and political threads that the meaning of gender is established and mobilized in higher education research. This chapter argues for the recognition of the conceptual and political underpinnings of any decision to research ‘gender.’ Questions of science and biology, culture and politics, faith and morality emerge when the meaning of gender is discussed; the act of defining gender is never a simple act of choosing the most accurate word (Butler, 1999; Stanley, 1997). The chapter begins with some of the debates that surround the meaning of gender and moves on to address some of the ways in which gender is researched in relation to higher education. Finally, methodological issues are discussed and applied to an ongoing empirical research project on gender and access to higher education in Haryana, India