Gender inequality in the academy: microaggressions, work-life conflict, and academic rank

ABSTRACT

Recent statistics reveal that white women and women of colour struggle to attain the rank of full professor. In addition, women in academia report repeated experiences with workplace hostilities, microaggressions, work-life conflict. This study draws on stress process theory to identify stressors and supports for academic women. Through analysis of focus group data, the findings reveal that women in academia continue to experience extreme workplace hostilities and stressors, and that these stressors vary by rank. They also expose some ideas from the participants of successful supports that could improve equity in the academy. The article concludes with a discussion of how universities can implement supports for white women academics and academic women of colour by rank.

KEYWORDS:

• Academia
• microaggressions
• stress process theory
• gender inequality

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Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The 2018 Department of Education Report revealed that at 2-year-private institutions, women (classified all together) earned $2,000 more per year than men, the only institutional category (and the lowest paid category) that did not favor men.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sarah Jane Blithe

Dr. Sarah Jane Blithe is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, specializing in organizational communication and gender. Dr. Blithe is the author of Gender Equality and Work-Life Balance: Glass handcuffs and working men in the U.S. and Sex and Stigma: Stories of Everyday Life in Nevada’s Legal Brothels. She has won multiple awards for her research and teaching. She earned her Ph.D. in Organizational Communication at the University of Colorado Boulder and an M.A. in International and Intercultural Communication at the University of Denver.