Retaining Women Faculty: The Problem of Invisible Labor

Reid, Rebecca A.

doi:10.1017/s1049096521000056

Cited by 28 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…To add insult to injury, minoritized faculty who shoulder a larger share of relational care work are later penalized in consequential reviews, perceived as academically unproductive (y Muhs et al, 2012). Yet, relational care work is central to the university as it supports students, making them feel like they belong, which directly impacts retention, recruitment, and university success (Reid, 2021). The neoliberal framework of the university shifts “not only what higher education is, but also who should be doing that labor” (Lawless & Chen, 2017, p. 242).…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In line with Reid (2021) suggestions, we advocate that departments create committees to decide what exactly constitutes invisible labor at a local level and then collectively develop transparent and equitable compensation for this labor. The accounting of what constitutes invisible labor should include the racialized and gendered work of diversity and liberatory labor and must go beyond traditional metrics of service as defined by White men (Reid, 2021). Department heads and other university administrators should also be accountable for their distribution of workloads, especially if service requests are not compensated through course releases, stipends, promotion, or other reward mechanisms.…”

Section: Invisible Labor and The Associate Professormentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Invisible labor and the associate professor: Identity and workload inequity.

Gordon¹,

Willink²,

Hunter³

2024

Journal of Diversity in Higher Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Many professors, especially at the associate level, say yes to service requests despite the pervasive advice to "just say no." Much of this service constitutes "invisible labor" that diverts time and energy from efforts required to advance to the full professor rank. Based on in-depth interview research with 25 tenured professors, this article outlines how different groups of faculty negotiate invisible labor, highlights institutional inequities that unevenly determine patterns of invisible labor, and connects invisible labor to broader neoliberal forces. For women faculty of color in particular, a "no" is not always respected by more powerful institutional actors, and the individualized emphasis on "just saying no" to service brings with it both individual and collective costs. This article suggests that institutional and cultural change may ameliorate the racialized and gendered inequities associated with invisible labor more effectively than the individualized advice to "just say no."

show abstract

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Invisible Labor and The Associate Professormentioning

confidence: 99%

Invisible labor and the associate professor: Identity and workload inequity.

Gordon¹,

Willink²,

Hunter³

2024

Journal of Diversity in Higher Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This delay is consistent with a common and well-studied phenomena often referred to as a cultural tax, minority tax, or invisible labor. This tax, while valuable to institutions, negatively impacts academic progress for individuals from marginalized identity groups (36)(37)(38)(39). Although there are other metrics for academic success for students, the fact that time to degree is strongly associated with winning competitive grants for these students could help departments and institutions reconsider how they measure success and who benefits most from current metrics.…”

Section: Discussion and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussion and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Winning a competitive research award decreases time to degree in bioscience PhD programs, but not for everyone

Alvero

Peña

Moore

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Time to degree completion is an important metric of academic progress and success for doctoral students. It is also a common way for educational stakeholders to compare programs even if the content of the degree programs varies. But what types of behaviors and experiences are associated with faster times to degree? In this education article, we examine the relationship between receiving competitive research awards (e.g. grant writing) and time to degree for Ph.D. students. We organize our analyses by student identities, specifically gender and underrepresented minority (URM) status, to examine differences in time to degree based on student demographics. Our dataset included students that graduated between academic years 2008-09 through 2018-19. Using well known, open access computational tools, we find that URM women who won competitive research awards graduate faster than all other students who also won awards. We also find that URM women and all URM students graduate faster compared to students who did not win awards. Combined, these results show how competitive awards and grants can facilitate faster times to degree for some students. This study suggests similar introspective analyses at other institutions and databases are needed.

show abstract

“…The internalized and institutionalized pressure to take on more work is also reminiscent of what Bird et al (2004) described as institutional housekeeping, where women perform service-oriented work in hopes of elevating their presence. We advance literature on service work for women faculty (Babcock et al, 2022; Neumann & Terosky, 2007; Reid, 2021) with our use of Acker’s (1990) framework, one that uncovers the internalization of gender roles for the participants (Hanasono et al, 2019). This tension in feeling pressure to serve while knowing this service will not contribute to career advancement provides a closer look at the nuance of how gendered organizations operate in faculty’s daily work lives.…”

Section: Hierarchies and Paradoxes: Gendered Organizations In Higher ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Hierarchies and paradoxes: How women in non-tenure-track faculty positions experience a gendered organization.

Blalock¹,

Stefanese-Yates²

2024

Journal of Diversity in Higher Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite efforts by colleges and universities to increase gender equity among faculty and administrative leadership, institutions of higher education are gendered organizations. Using critical qualitative inquiry, we interviewed 23 faculty who identified as women in non-tenure-track positions at two public regional comprehensive universities to explore how they encountered a gendered organization in their work. Participants identified three salient experiences of a gendered organization: taking on extra work, being mothers in the classroom, and confronting the physical body. These findings implicate larger structural habits of colleges and universities in the non-tenure-track faculty work environment, habits that reproduce gendered notions of work and women's place in academia. Furthermore, these findings demonstrate how hierarchies between men and women in academia are reinforced and how paradoxes are introduced in women's work in non-tenure-track faculty positions.

show abstract

Retaining Women Faculty: The Problem of Invisible Labor

Cited by 28 publications

References 9 publications

Invisible labor and the associate professor: Identity and workload inequity.

Invisible labor and the associate professor: Identity and workload inequity.

Winning a competitive research award decreases time to degree in bioscience PhD programs, but not for everyone

Hierarchies and paradoxes: How women in non-tenure-track faculty positions experience a gendered organization.

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About