Foreign-born women faculty work roles and productivity at research universities in the United States

Abstract

Using the data from the 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:04) survey, the study examined foreign-born women faculty members’ work roles and productivity in the areas of teaching, research, and service in comparison with their US-born counterparts at research universities in the US. The findings provided some evidence to suggest that foreign-born women faculty members’ patterns of engagement in work activities contradicted the gendered division of labor in academia. The findings indicated that foreign-born female academics were significantly more engaged in research that was evident in the number of scholarly outputs they produced compared to US-born women faculty colleagues. On the other hand, they seemed to be less involved in teaching and service functions of their work than their US-born women peers. The study could serve as a good starting point to further examine foreign-born women faculty socialization into faculty roles and their academic work culture.