EFFECTS OF GENDER AND UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY STATUS ON FACULTY WORKLOAD RECOMMENDATIONS

Abstract

This study examines whether female and underrepresented minority faculty members are subject to minority taxation or bias corrections when it comes to workload. To this end, over 800 biology and physics faculty members at R1 research universities completed an activity wherein they recommended five fictitious faculty members to research, leadership, teaching, and advising roles. Participants were randomly driven to one of three activities: one with Anglo male characters, one containing a female character, and one with a Hispanic male character (i.e., Carl, Cathy, and Carlos, all with equivalent credentials). Among findings, the woman (Cathy) was recommended significantly more to leadership than the men (Carl and Carlos). Interestingly, physics faculty members recommended Carlos twice as often as they recommended Carl and three times more often than they recommended Cathy to sponsor a student group. Recommenders also indicated they considered gender significantly more than race/ethnicity when weighing decisions. Analysis of rationales indicated gender-based implicit biases wherein respondents perceived Cathy more often than Carl or Carlos to possess stereotypical female attributes of being well liked and collaborative. Other patterns found among recommenders' rationales and the effects of the variables gender, URM status, experience, and discipline are discussed.