Remarkably little is known about the women who have successful careers in higher education. This book provides telling insights into the experiences of twenty women professors of different backgrounds and ages who work in various academic disciplines within the UK academy. Kate Hoskins examines the influences and factors which shape the capacity of some women to achieve high positions in a setting where they have historically been excluded. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, she analyses the impact of their identity – their social class, gender and ethnicity – in their choices of promotion pathways, their journeys of progression and their constructions of success. This is an innovative and engaging sociological analysis of career success. The stories are revealing and the empirical and theoretical understandings make the book essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students, further and higher education professionals and active researchers.