A reprieve from academia's chilly climate and misogyny: The power of feminist, women‐centered faculty writing program

Abstract

The pervasiveness of sexism and misogyny and their harmful effects in academic contexts is well established, with scholars labeling women faculty's experiences of marginalization, devaluation, and exclusion as the "chilly climate" of the academy. Despite decades of intervention and research, the question remains: How can the chilly climate be mitigated? In the present focused ethnography, we examined a feminist, women-centered faculty writing program at a US university that offered relief from the frigid temperatures by fostering a sanctioned space for women faculty to set aside their care work and to experience psychological safety, which, in turn, encouraged them to feel positive emotions regarding their writing and research. In addition to being impactful, the writing program is a feasible and easily adaptable intervention.

What do I do? A Categorisation of Informal Leadership Activities Among Female Professors

“…However, there is evidence of slow improvement; for example, in Ireland, women's representation in the professorate increased from a three-year average between 2017-2019 of 25% to 27% in December 2020 (HEAI, 2021). The social identity theory of leadership provides a valuable socio-psychological insight into why women often feel like outsiders in these 'chilly' working environments (Sharp and Messuri, 2023). That being said, professorial leadership by these women, in particular, plays a key role in breaking down the barriers to other women becoming senior academics.…”

“…As highlighted above, these informal types of leadership are mostly ignored when assessing contribution (Evans, 2017;Rehbock et al, 2021), a detrimental issue in light of this competitive environment. We argue that the acknowledgement of female-specific informal leadership activities is especially important for female scholars who strive to advance their careers in what has been termed a 'chilly' working environment (Sharp and Messuri, 2023). Therefore, there is value in exploring female professors' informal leadership and in cataloguing the activities therein.…”