Academic Tenure and Women…… Are we there yet!!! By Darlene I. Santiago Quinones
Did you know that 4 out of the 8 prestigious Ivy League Universities in United States are led by Women?????? You might think that finally we have reached equality, well you are incorrect. Do not get me wrong, this is historically and symbolically important, still it does not matches the reality of life for women in higher education. Maybe Harvard, Brown, Princeton and Pennsylvania are in transition to a state were men are not the norm. This may be said for many US colleges and universities. In 2004, the percentage of woman pursuing undergraduate studies approached almost two-thirds of the population. In addition, graduate degrees awarded to women has more than doubled in the last 30 years. As for today, the number of women getting a PhD in science has grown from 8% in 1974 to 27% in 2004, and in engineering from 1 % to 18%. Yet, women continue to advance more slowly up faculty ranks and earn less salary than their male colleagues. Even though more women are tenured today, the tenure gender gap has not narrowed in the last 25 years. Furthermore, despite high-profile appointees such as in Harvard, women are still disproportionately represented in lower ranks and at less prestigious institutions. Although nearly 29 percent of associate-degree-granting colleges were headed by women, less than 14 percent of doctorate-granting institutions have women presidents. And while there has been progress in closing the salary gap between men and women when new academic appointments are made, within five years of hire the equity begins to evaporate. It sounds cruel but one of the explanations for the gender differential in academic careers may be the “Baby Gap,” according to researchers Mary Ann Mason (a woman) and Marc Goulden at the University of California, Berkeley. Their investigations have shown that having children, especially “early babies,” is a disadvantage for women’s professional careers—but an advantage for men’s. Women with babies are 29 percent less likely than women without to enter a tenure- track position, and married women are 20 percent less likely than single women to do so.
This said, I believe that women are capable of balancing the mom–daughter–wife–professor–mentor role. I look forward to the time when we do not have to think about gender differences, but this is a dangerous and faulty longing. Only by analyzing how gender is mapped in the places we work, in the policies that govern our lives, and in access to opportunities can we transition to that world where, I say to you, women are the norm.
P.D. I am very proud of the graduate women students from UPRM, especially those at INQU. You have been blessed with maternity, I admire your hard work balancing parenthood and profession.