Chapter 9 The Unwritten Rules of the Academy: A Balancing act for Women of Color

Abstract

The role gender plays in academia has provided unique experiences and challenges for women (Hill, Leinbaugh, Bradley, & Hazler, 2005). Inequalities in salary, as well as promotion and tenure, are issues women in higher education have had to endure since their entrance into the academy. For women of color there is an additional layer to their struggles that is predicated on the impact of race and ethnicity, all synergistically affecting how women of color enter, negotiate, and are retained within academia. This chapter explores themes around the issues that require women of color to subjugate the self to succeed and find acceptance in academia. This chapter illuminates the unwritten rules that often decide the fate of women faculty of color; as well as how women of color are navigating the intersection of race and gender in academia. Feminist theoretical approaches and narrative inquiry have been employed to draw out themes from the stories of eleven women of color who currently or previously held academic positions.

Citation

Mitchell, N.A. and Miller, J.J. (2011), "Chapter 9 The Unwritten Rules of the Academy: A Balancing act for Women of Color", Jean-Marie, G. and Lloyd-Jones, B. (Ed.) Women of Color in Higher Education: Changing Directions and New Perspectives (Diversity in Higher Education, Vol. 10), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 193-218. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-3644(2011)0000010013