Usually, “too nice” is not anything I need to worry about being described as. But it turns out that I need to worry about coming across that way in letters of recommendation I solicit from employers and mentors. According to a recent article from Inside Higher Ed, a group of scholars has determined from a study of more than 600 letters that touchy-feely descriptions of individuals are likely to torpedo that person’s job prospects. Because touchy-feely language is girl stuff. Eeeeewww.
From the article:
You are reading a letter of recommendation that praises a candidate for a faculty job as being “caring,” “sensitive,” “compassionate,” or a “supportive colleague.” Whom do you picture?
New research suggests that to faculty search committees, such words probably conjure up a woman — and probably a candidate who doesn’t get the job. The scholars who conducted the research believe they may have pinpointed one reason for the “leaky pipeline” that frustrates so many academics, who see that the percentage of women in senior faculty jobs continues to lag the percentage of those in junior positions and that the share in junior positions continues to lag those earning doctorates.
So, despite the face that more women are earning doctorates (although this is due to a preponderance in the humanities fields), and despite the fact that the terms are not themselves offense–I mean really, who’s going to be upset at being called a “supportive colleague”?–they are penalized for the suggestion of their femaleness. Of course, this penalty applies to men whose letters have this sort of language, although men are more likely to contain what the study calls “agentive” language.
Now, I don’t know what my letters of rec have said, but I do know that as (if?) I apply to positions in the future, I will be forwarding a link to this article to my recommenders and asking them to include–to the degree that they feel is appropriate–”agentive” language.
Fuck. Like I need more double standards in my life.
So…now we shouldn’t disclose how good the applicant’s home baked cookies are?
Back to the drawing board.
I guess nice girls do finish last.
This, as a parent who has recently finished putting two kids through undergrad, is typical of the dichotomy between what students think college is and what faculty and administration think it is. Students think they’re paying tuition to receive the benefit of learning and academic support from faculty. But any research institution sees its purpose as the raising of money to support research, with the undergrads a distant second. All of the skills for which women (or men who care about their students) exhibit on this list pertain to the professor-student relationship, but they make not a cent for the institution. so not only students, but caring faculty are getting screwed. It is all kinds of messed up.
Right, because what you really want in a close work environment like academia is someone who’s a dick–and has one.
I see it as an extension of the fundamental hypocrisy in higher ed hiring–even in SLACs–since I expect the BS mischief manager mentions from R-1s: they say they want people committed to teaching, mentoring undergrads, whatever, but really, they’re more likely to pick those with more publications. Because any careless fucker who knows a field can teach it. Teaching is eeeeeasy. *eyeroll*
ETA: Not all faculty think of undergrads as a unfortunate flaw of the system. I love teaching more than anything else. Even when it sucks and drains me, I know it matters. I don’t flatter myself that I’ll mystically, permanently touch all (or even most) of my students, but I know that I can make a difference in their lives. And it’s not by lecturing about my latest research project.
@Becky: generally speaking, women aren’t the reason why our daughter has to leave her door open during office hours. Just saying.
@Dorkie: What are SLACs and R-1s?
You are so right. It’s the possibility of influencing a life, or even just being respectful and friendly to undergrads, that is what people remember from college. Research is great stuff (hell, I’m doing some for pay at the mo, although not at a university), but it doesn’t have the direct impact that a relationship between teacher and student can have. If I were in school, I’d pick someone like you, Dorkie, over some remote, self-impressed jerk with a ton of meaningless publications on his CV.
Duh, I got caught up in academese…
SLAC: Small Liberal Arts College (like where baraqiel did her undergrad)
R-1: Research 1 Institution. (I would guess like where baraqiel is now) Big, with multiple colleges/schools, but with a greatest focus on funding and doing research. Lots of big land-grant schools have evolved into R-1s, but there are also some prestigious brand-name schools. R-2s would be focused on research, too, but they’re not as high-profile.
Ugh. Color me not surprised. I’ll have to watch out for that, because I do try to cultivate an image of being smart and independent as well as nice.
On a related note:
In my department, we bring two big-name speakers each year as part of an endowed lecture series. This year’s speaker was here over the weekend, and as I was looking over the brochure listing the speakers over the past 25 years, I noticed something interesting: out of nearly 50 speakers, there were only 2 women – and both of these women were co-speakers who had come with their more-famous husbands.
Worse, I wasn’t here for the first man/woman pair, but I was for the second. Their lectures were far from impressive, but most of the other grad students (especially the men, natch) ripped into the woman far more than the man – because she’d had a hot flash during her talk, which was distracting to her as well as the audience. So she was automatically disqualified, because she had the audacity to be a menopausal woman. Sigh.
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Totally depressing, and yet totally unsurprising.
What Endora said.
I guess I’m glad I became aware of the bias, before finishing my doctorate.
My undergrad totally did the pretend it’s about students when it’s about grants thing. The prof in my department who won the student favorite award every year for doing things like holding extra office hours, study sessions, and actually teaching didn’t get tenure, because he was only publishing one or two papers a year. In a massive move of cluelessness, two weeks later they put out a survey asking students how to improve their educational experience.