Being Taken Seriously - Qualitative Study
The IU Indianapolis Office for Women, in partnership with the Center for Urban and Multicultural Education and a graduate student in the IU School of Education at IU Indianapolis, conducted a qualitative study examining experiences of women faculty at IU Indianapolis. While the challenges are somewhat different for women students, staff, and faculty, there are common themes noted throughout the literature. These include an under-estimation or devaluation of their work and abilities, limited resources/options for balancing academic work and family, economic and physical stressors, institutional policies that obstruct advancement, and unintended bias and sexist attitudes.
This project is born out of the results of the 2009 and 2005 faculty surveys which indicated that faculty identified “gender” as the reason they are “not being taken seriously” or they are experiencing “negative or disparaging comments. In 2009, 11.2% of respondents identified “not being taken seriously” based on their gender and 10.6% said they experienced “negative or disparaging comments” based on their gender. Therefore, this work seeks to discover what words, behaviors, practices, policies and experiences lead women faculty to the perception that they are or are not “being taken seriously” or have negative experiences.
Click here to read the study.