Part of the Discussion? Gendered Role of Support Staff in Higher Education

Abstract

This chapter considers the work and contributions of female support staff whose roles are often overlooked, underexplored, or invisible in the growing body of literature on women in academe. Within the post-secondary setting, the majority of women are found clustered at the bottom of the hierarchy (Allan, Women’s status in higher education: Equity matters. ASHE higher education report, 37 No. 1. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011; Iverson, NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education 2(1): 142–168, 2009). While core job responsibilities and expectations of support staff in higher education have evolved considerably since the inception of post-secondary institutions, the recognition and empowerment of female support staff’s contributions to student learning and development is coming up short. Kanter’s (Men and women of the corporation. New York: Basic Books, 1977, Kanter, Harvard Business Review 57(4): 1–12, 1979) Structural Theory of Power in Organizations, combined with work by Acker (Gender & Society 20(4): 441–464, 2006a), Iverson (NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education 2(1): 142–168, 2009), and Costello (NAPSA Journal About Women in Higher Education 5(2): 99–114, 2012), provides context to examine how gender continues to impact how support staff engage in and perceive their work in higher education. Recommendations are offered to address the status of women in the academe through the inclusion of support staff in discussions on who contributes to the creation and maintenance of holistic learning environments.