Who Am I and How Do I Fit in? The Lived Experience of Two Older Women Academics Working in the Third Space

This article explores the lived experience of two older women who came to academia late in their careers, and both had atypical non-linear careers, initially working outside higher education and then in the Third Space in universities before moving into established academic research posts. The Third Space was initially used in higher education by Whitchurch to describe the ‘concept of the blended professional, characterising individuals with identities drawn from both professional and academic domains’ (Whitchurch 2009. “The Rise of the Blended Professional in Higher Education: A Comparison between the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States.” Higher Education 58 (3): 407–418. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-009-9202-4) who can suffer from blurred identities and problematic career paths (Veles and Takagi Citation2026. “Developing Sustainable Careers in Higher Education: Third Space Professionals in Australia and Japan.” Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 48 (2–3): 346–364. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2025.2548477). The article adopts collective auto-ethnographic methodology within a feminist and post-qualitative epistemology. It explores our contribution to higher education through Third Space leadership development and gender and leadership research, despite us both having struggled with our professional identity and ‘fitting in’ (Denney 2023. “A Glass Classroom? The Experiences and Identities of Third Space Women Leading Educational Change in Research-Intensive Universities in the UK.” Educational Management Administration & Leadership 51 (6): 1440–1460. https://doi.org/10.1177/17411432211042882). Our experience indicates a tension where older Third Space women are questioned as professionals who have had prior careers outside higher education. They also lack identity if they then transition from administrative to academic roles; they are not traditional or even ‘real’ academics. We argue that universities need to harness the knowledge, skills and networking of these women because it can encourage collaboration across the administrative/academic divide.