BY CHELSEA FOWLER

As discussed in my Equal Pay Day blog post, the gender disparities that exist in faculty ranks are persistent and consistent. Without meaningful efforts by individuals and at the institutional level, female faculty members will likely continue to face challenges breaking through the proverbial glass ceiling to the highest faculty ranks. Below is a list of actions that higher education leaders and education professionals should consider taking to identify disparities at their institutions and support female faculty members.

• Analyze faculty data

Institutional leaders should review their institution’s faculty data and disaggregate it by gender to better understand in what ranks faculty are concentrated and identify where gaps exist. Leaders can also use external data resources like the AAUP’s Faculty Compensation Survey, the largest independent source of data on both full-time and part-time faculty salaries and benefits, to analyze faculty data. The survey provides historical data on distributions of faculty by rank, gender, category, and affiliation so that institutions can compare their data against national averages and peer institutions. For instructions on ordering the survey’s data sets or access to the results portal, please see the order form page for further details or contact the AAUP research department at aaupfcs@aaup.org. Institutions that would like to learn more about conducting a salary study, including database decisions, data biases, and other considerations for analysis should consider using the AAUP’s Paychecks: A Guide to Conducting Salary-Equity Studies for Higher Education Faculty.

• Support female faculty and be an advocate

Supporting female faculty is a broad suggestion that encompasses a variety of actions, not limited to writing recommendation letters for junior female faculty and calling attention to women’s contributions to departments and institutions. Propping up women’s achievements, whether by recommending them for a promotion or acknowledging their ideas in a faculty meeting, validates their contributions and makes female faculty feel valued at their institution, which can instill a sense of belonging and acceptance both for the faculty member and institution.

Advocates can play an important role in all professions. A senior professional speaking on behalf of a lower-level staff member, providing professional development opportunities, or serving as an adviser can make a big difference in advancing the career of junior staff. In academia, faculty at the highest ranks can be advocates for early career female faculty to help facilitate their growth and advancement in academia. One example of an institution that has taken steps to establish advocates and allies within their ranks is Ohio State University and their Advocates & Allies for Equity initiative.

• Institutional commitment to diversity

An overall commitment to diversity can set the tone and expectation that institutions value diversity, including gender diversity, in faculty and staff ranks. For example, Columbia University created an Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Diversity to prioritize the institution’s commitment to diversity in its faculty ranks. Additionally, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Faculty Diversity Initiatives offers community based faculty groups, mentoring programs, and diversity initiatives and committees to support minority faculty. Faculty and administrators can work together to develop diversity initiatives that reflect their values and mission.

• Review hiring and advancement policies

The data indicate that women are concentrated in lower faculty ranks and face barriers advancing within university systems. Faculty and administrators can take proactive steps to mitigate gender disparities by reviewing their own hiring and advancement policies to determine where in the pipeline female faculty members face challenges. This could include reviewing faculty job descriptions to remove gendered language or examining candidate pools to make sure diverse candidates are considered for each position. If necessary, hiring and advancement policies should be revised so that they are more equitable. These policies could be revised, for instance, to ensure that search procedures are inclusive and allow input from women, staff, and students from both majority and underrepresented groups. Another strategy is to use broad language in job postings and send advertisements to organizations that reach diverse audiences to recruit from a wider candidate pool. Hiring committees should also ensure that diverse pools of candidates are considered for all positions and not penalize candidates for “resume gaps” which may coincide with childrearing years. Institutions can also take steps to ensure consistent awarding of financial compensation in hiring and advancement as well as non-salary compensation, such as research support, teaching release, summer salary, and recognition of service.

• Responsiveness to sexual harassment and sexual abuse

Sexual harassment and sexual assault are all too common occurrences in all professions, including academia, and can prohibit women from reaching the highest faculty ranks. Procedures for addressing sexual harassment and assault cases should ensure fair treatment of all involved. When crafting and revising policies and procedures to address sexual harassment and abuse, administrators should involve key stakeholders at the institution, including faculty members, Title IX coordinators, and institutional leaders to ensure understanding and compliance with approved policies. Universities should then provide training for campus leaders on properly handling sexual harassment complaints and ensure faculty understand university conduct standards. The AAUP published a report on Title IX in 2016 which discusses policies and recommendations.

• Provide professional development opportunities and mentorship

Higher education institutions can actively support female faculty members by helping them hone their skills through providing meaningful professional development opportunities, which may include support to attend conferences or engagement in department and institutional leadership activities. Conference participation is a common way for faculty to stay up-to-date with developments in their field, meet other researchers, and present their research findings. Attending or presenting at conferences can bolster a faculty member’s CV, raise their status in the academic community, and promote their research, all of which can be important when considering a faculty member for promotion. When planning a conference panel or plenary, organizers should be mindful to avoid “manels” and similar single gender presentations that do not represent the audience to whom they are addressing. While present in all disciplines, one recent example can be seen at Brigham Young University, where a Women in Math event featured an all-male panel.

Engaging female faculty in departmental and institutional activities is another way to provide them with professional development that can benefit their career. This type of engagement can embed female faculty at their institution by giving them a voice at the table on important issues that impact the institution at large. Having more women at the table in university departments and at the upper ranks of higher education institutions elevates female faculty’s positions and influence, strengthening their professional credentials and connecting them with the institution’s community.

Institutions can also support mentorship for underrepresented faculty to encourage female faculty to persist in academia. Mentorship can include, among other things, classroom visits, teaching feedback, and guidance on institutional expectations. For instance, the University of California San Francisco’s Campus Council on Faculty Life developed a Faculty Mentoring Toolkit to provide their faculty with a guide to mentor/mentee relationships. Mentorship may be peer-to-peer or senior-junior faculty and it can help address the leaky pipe from hiring to promotion by providing guidance and support to female faculty as they advance in their career.

With ongoing work and a commitment to equality at the individual and institutional levels, female faculty may experience improved working conditions that help them persist and thrive at higher education institutions.

Guest blogger Chelsea Fowler is the AAUP’s research assistant. The views expressed here belong to the author. Any mention of a program or organization does not constitute an AAUP endorsement.