It has been assumed that women’s under-representation in philosophy is a “pipeline problem” that will be fixed once the number of women in the academic pipeline increased. The pipeline model, however, misrepresents the academic terrain as gender neutral, and whilst challenged in feminist literature, remains the dominant model guiding responses to the underrepresentation of women. As a result, recommendations adopted by philosophical bodies (in Australasia and elsewhere) have failed to address the reasons for women’s lesser participation. We argue that attention to feminist work addressing women and philosophy – the place of feminist philosophy; how “philosophy” is understood and “philosophers” are represented; and, the effects of the marginalisation of feminist philosophical concerns in teaching philosophy, may better identify the causes of women’s low participation. We conclude by exploring the potential for philosophical bodies, and the philosophical community, to effectively improve the participation of women in philosophy.
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