Faculty Reappointment, Tenure, and Promotion: Barriers for Women

Abstract

Women faculty continue to experience academe differently than male faculty. A review of recent literature indicates that women's representation on university faculties has advanced slowly; women are less likely to be tenured or promoted compared to male faculty; and women faculty earn less than their male colleagues. A recurring theme is that the intellectual and social isolation of women faculty affects their research productivity. Gender stereotypes held by colleagues, departmental and college administrators, and students also contribute to the difficulties women face in the reappointment, tenure, and promotion process. A personal perspective on the reappointment process is provided in order to illustrate how isolation and naïvete regarding the social structure of academe can affect a woman's career advancement. The benefits of greater representation of women on university faculties are reviewed, and departmental and college administrators are reminded of the important role they play in ensuring future gender-balanced faculties.

Lack of Gender Bias in Citation Rates of Publications by Dendrochronologists: What is Unique about this Discipline?

“…However, the pattern of higher quality publications coming from female-authors was not clear in our dataset because the top ten most-cited articles were all authored by men (Males #1-3). This does not imply that female dendrochronologists produce lower quality of scholarship, but it does demonstrate that unlike observations in physical geography and medical research (Winkler 2000;Housri et al 2008), women dendrochronologists publish articles that are on average cited at the same rate as their male colleagues. This paper demonstrates that females publishing in the area of dendrochronology do not experience a significant gender bias in the citation rates of their publications.…”

“…This removes the isolation of sole-authorship experienced by women in some disciplines and may also contribute to the lack of gender bias in citation rates. Another contributing factor to the lack of gender bias could be that female scientists place a greater emphasis on publications rather than on other research outputs, such as patents, which results in higher quality of articles produced by women (Winkler 2000;Frietsch et al 2009). Although women often comprise a smaller proportion of researchers, their publications appear in significantly higher-ranked journals as compared to their male counterparts (Housri et al 2008).…”

Faculty Agency: Departmental Contexts that Matter in Faculty Careers

“…Women faculty also face, what has been described as a "chilly climate," and are often left out of networking and advancement opportunities (Caplan, 1993;Sandler, 1986;Winkler, 2000). Some contributing factors include: sexist language, a masculine reward system, exclusion of women and women's values, and the devaluing of women's work.…”

“…Women faculty of color face discrimination based on both their gender and their race in both overt and subtle forms, which leaves them in a position of "multiple marginality" (Turner, 2002). A number of scholars have described the systematic isolation and invisibleness that women faculty of color experience in their roles (e.g., Gregory 2001;Turner, 2002;Winkler, 2000).…”

“…Women often face an inhospitable climate in academia, and are called upon to be reformers of the academic system (Winkler, 2000). Agency is required in order to navigate systems, shape one's environment, overcome resistance, and succeed in achieving one's goals (Elder, 1994;Heinz, 1996).…”