Graduate Student Women’s Perceptions of Faculty Careers: The Critical Role of Departmental Values and Support in Career Choice

Abstract

While the number of women in undergraduate and graduate chemistry programs has increased in recent years, women remain under-represented and excluded in the ranks of faculty in chemistry higher education. This marginalization results from not only fewer women being offered faculty positions but also fewer women applying for these positions. To investigate the reasons why faculty positions are causing so many women to turn elsewhere for employment, a survey was designed based on the literature themes surrounding women's career choices, interviews with the current graduate student women in chemistry programs, and our previous work. The survey was grounded in social cognitive career theory (SCCT), and data were analyzed through a QuantCrit lens. Despite the existing literature focusing on the impact of having children on women's career decisions, the desire to have children did not appear among either the top priorities or the most important factors in predicting whether any of the 130 survey respondents were interested in a faculty career. Instead, faculty career interest was related to themes of overwork, high expectations from departments, and expected department emphasis on research despite an individual's interest in teaching and mentoring. Furthermore, women expressed a strong interest in maintaining work-life balance but low expectations for their ability to obtain a position that would allow it. They also reported a desire to work for a department that values mental health and diversity and supports its community members but similarly low expectations for their ability to find a department that shares these values. These themes suggest that chemistry departments must make fundamental changes regarding what is tangibly valued and rewarded within their systems if they wish to reduce the exclusion of women in faculty positions.

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