Alice in demographyland: how it looks from the other side of the looking glass

The challenges are many in reflecting on women in demography in Canada in the 1990's. On the one hand, so much is known about women in academia and the hurdles that still need to be overcome " institutionally and intellectually. So much more research exists in the area than it did only a decade ago. An apt title for reflections from this point of view might be "Yet Another Reflection on Women in Academe: This Time It's Demography." Yet "scholarship is the recognition of ignorance, the awareness not of what we know, but of how we know and what we do not know" (Neusner, 1984: 30). Although a considerable body of research exists on women in academia, it is clear that knowledge does not translate directly or immediately into change in universities, or in the public service, as the preceding papers have shown. Despite gains, the number of women in demography in Canada remains small, as DeWit's paper shows. Women have been underrepresented in both the past and present public service and continue to face challenges both institutional and attitudinal, as the papers by Wargon and by Hagey reveal. In this paper, a glimpse of some of the challenges posed to academic women demographers is offered. As the title of the paper suggests, "Alice's" look from the other side of the looking glass may not be every woman's, but hopefully in sharing reflections on (1) challenges to women in academia generally, and (2) the gender challenge to demography in particular, the door can be opened for further discussion, research and change.