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This study uses a critical feminist perspective to examine women's progress in the field of higher education since 1970. Judith Glazer-Raymo contrasts the activism of the 1970s, the passivity of the 1980s, and the ambivalence and antipathy demonstrated towards feminism in the 1990s. These waves of change, she explains, were brought about by external forces, by generational differences between women, and by intellectual and ideological struggles within the women's movement and the larger academic culture. Her work draws on the experience of women faculty and administrators as they articulate and reflect on the social, economic, political and ideological contexts in which they work and the multiple influences on their professional and personal lives. Arguing that the corporatization of the university is creating new obstacles that deter women's full participation, the author identifies the gender implications of rules and practices that might otherwise seem neutral or objective. Pervasive concerns relate to attacks on academic freedom, the validity of the academic pipeline and academic labour market arguments, the retreat from affirmative action, the retrenchment of feminized fields, the growth of a dual employment system, the resilience of the glass ceiling and other barriers to advancement, and the curriculum as contested terrain. In tracing three decades of women's progress in the academy, the author provides data from a variety of sources (including national and regional databases) on women's rank, salaries, employment status and education. Finally, her critique is informed by her own experience in the academy as an administrator, researcher, community activist, teacher, mentor and advisor.