WOMEN FACULTY AND THE SOCIAL–CULTURAL NEXUS IN HIGHER EDUCATIONKarla A. Henderson, North Carolina State University

To examine the social-cultural nexus of women faculty in recreation-related units in higher education

• Women in the Recreation Movement for over 100 years

• The number of women in higher education has grown

• Women’s experiences are shaped by both structural and cultural factors

• A social-cultural nexus is both a site and a process of construction, legitimization, reproduction, and reworking of gender relations

• A career development model:

• Survey included: current position and university characteristics, career patterns, career satisfaction, family/work/leisure balance, and gender equity issues• Emails to listservs associated with SPREnet, sports,

tourism, and natural resources faculty • N = 196 women• Scales and reliability included attitudes towards job

(α=.90); life balance perceptions (α=.85); and gender equity (α=.93.

• Age : µ=46 years with range from 28-75 years• Represented 76% US/Canada, 24% other countries• 90% self-identified as White• Marital status: 56% married or living with male partner,

26% single, and 10% married or living with female partner

• 85% contributed half or more to the household income • Average yearly salary range: $70,000-80,000.• Rank: instructors/lecturers=18%, assistant

professors=31%, associate professors=29%, and full professors=22%

• Over half tenured (57%) with 20% on tenure track and 22% in non-tenure track positions

Family/work/leisure Balance• Worked an average of 50 hours per week• 9 hours per week s spent on household chores• 9 hours per week spent in leisure activities with 4 hours engaged in physically active leisure.• Average household size = 2• ¾ did not have children living in their homes• 1 in 5 women regularly cared for an older or disabled relative• Women indicated that sometimes they wished they had more time, felt rushed, generally had to

take work home over the weekends, felt guilty for working too much or sometimes working too little, and experienced some job stress

Satisfaction• 76% were satisfied or very satisfied (14% said they were dissatisfied to some degree) with job• Majority indicating that their university was a good place to work and they were proud to be

associated with their Departments and their university.

Gender Equity• 56% believed that they had the same opportunities to advance as men• 53% believed they received a salary equivalent to men in similar positions• 51% said they had experienced discrimination due to gender• 1/3 said they had been sexually harassed at some time in their careers.• 1/4 said that conscious discrimination no longer existed in their universities• ¾ indicated that unconscious discrimination continued to exist• 2/3 often felt excluded from male networks• 58% felt they got the same mentoring as males• Women felt the mentoring they got from male colleagues met their expectations more than

mentoring from female colleagues

Comparisons• Comparative statistics (t-tests, ANOVA) found very few differences among the women based on

rank, tenure, and administrative status• Administrators were significantly more likely to say their values were similar to the university, they

were proud and inspired by their university, and that the university inspired them to work hard

1. Despite general agreement that life balance perspectives may not be as good as was desired, and that gender equity has not been achieved, women in higher education were generally quite satisfied with their careers and the universities in which they worked.

2. Regardless of rank, tenure status, or administrative responsibilities, somewhat of a “common world” of women existed in higher education relative to the social-cultural nexus.

Background

Purpose Methods

Sample

Results

Conclusions