The report also calls for schools to clearly establish paths for promotion in alignment with institutional values. “If a university emphasizes diversity in its mission statement, and a faculty member mentors students of color, that should be counted more heavily than it is now in promotion decisions,” Woodward says.
MLA executive director Rosemary G. Feal notes that women clearly tend to take longer to become full professor “at every type of college in every region of the country. (Our) report calls for concrete action to support women’s advancement.”
Woodward adds, “You would have thought persistent inequity would have vanished by now, but it hasn’t.”
The survey also found that, on average, it takes women one to 3.5 years longer than men to advance from associate to full professor, depending on the type of school in which they teach. Slightly more than half the respondents were women.
Only 38 percent of respondents reported having dependent children at home. Women reported spending at least 31 hours a week caring for children – more than twice the average of their male colleagues.
The MLA and its 30,000 members work to strengthen the study and teaching of languages and literature. The MLA’s Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession investigates and reports on women’s issues.
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