Women of Color Faculty in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM): Experiences in Academia* AERA 2013 San Francisco, CA Sylvia Hurtado and Tanya Figueroa Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA * in press (proceedings of National Academy of Sciences: Prepared for Seeking Solutions: Maximizing American Talent by Advancing Women of Color in Academia). June 2012, Washington, DC.

A Word about Intersectionality Women of color face a “double bind” for having two identities that are especially undervalued in STEM contexts The intersection of both gender and race is reflected in women of color’s unique perceptions of the workplace in academia The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of underrepresented women of color in academia. We compare URM women with STEM colleagues in terms of sources of stress, workload demands, and satisfaction.

Data Source HERI Faculty Survey, administered triennially 2010 Individual institutional administration 2010 STEM Supplement-NSF sponsored 2007 98 Institutions added to augment sample Sample: 673 four-year colleges and universities 11, 039 STEM faculty (unweighted) 272 Women of Color in STEM 2013 Faculty Survey: www.heri.ucla.edu

Sample: Rank, Race and Gender in STEM Professor Associate Assistant Lecturer/ Instructor URM Women 272 (2.5%) 16.2% 24.6% 31.3% 23.5% Asian Women 258 (2.3%) 18.6% 29.5% 30.2% 15.1% White Women 3,857 (34.9%) 22.5% 28.8% 29.6% 14.4% URM Men 374 (3.4%) 28.6% 27.8% 21.9% 16.3% Asian Men 565 (5.1%) 30.8% 24.1% 6.5% White Men 5,713 (51.8%) 41.8% 26.3% 17.8% 8.6% Percentages by row may not add to 100% because we are missing rank data for those people.

Top 10 Sources of Stress Comparisons URM Females 86.4 Lack of personal time 82.4 Self-imposed high expectations 79.0 Managing household duties 69.9 Working w underprepared students 66.0 Institutional budget cuts 65.8 Personal finances 61.8 Research or publishing demands 61.0 Institutional 'red tape' 61.0 Teaching load 58.5 Students White Males Lower on: Lack of personal time Self-imposed high expectations Managing household duties Institutional ‘red tape’ (Higher) White Females Students (Higher) URM Males Managing household duties

Women of color are significantly more likely to report stress in the last two years related to subtle discrimination than either male or female faculty in STEM. Note Asian women are as likely to report this source of stress as URM women, there are no statistical differences between those groups. * Astroids on the bar signify that the mean for that group is stat different from URM females Note: Significant male/female differences within group** p=<.01; * < .05.

The average amount of stress faculty experience related to their career. Includes sources of stress: committee work, colleagues, students, research or publishing demands, institutional procedures/red tape, teaching load, lack of personal time, and self-imposed high expectations. URM women have among the highest reported levels of career-related stress, higher than white women at the associate level but lower than white women at the lower ranks.

Workloads for STEM Tenure Track Faculty (5+ hrs/wk on respective task) Advising Counseling Students White URM Asian Male 38.5* 42.7 43.2 Female 43.6 48.5 44.3 Committee Work or Meetings 36.1** 38.6 32.3** 43.8 40.8 Research and Scholarly Writing 59.8* 66.2** 73.3* 44.9 49.5 60.2 Note: Significant differences with URM females, **= p<.01; *=p<.05.

Work Environment White URM Asian Male 79.3** 77.0 83.3** Female 72.7 My Research is Valued by Faculty in My Department White URM Asian Male 79.3** 77.0 83.3** Female 72.7 69.7 77.6 I Have to Work Harder Than My Colleagues to be Perceived as a Legitimate Scholar 52.4** 60.1** 74 66.6* 79.1 80.9 Note: Significant comparisons with URM females; **=p <.01; *=p<.05.

Mean satisfaction with compensation is measured by responses to the following items: Salary, retirement benefits, opportunity for scholarly pursuits, teaching load, job security, and prospects for career advancement. While URM women are more satisfied than Asian Females or URM males at the assistant professor level, this pattern quickly changes once one is tenured. URM female professors are least satisfied.

Conclusion and Implications URM women share many of the same experiences as other women in STEM but also have unique sources of stress, as well as lower satisfaction and respect. Salary equity studies, professional development support & dept. support for advancement. Assessment challenge: Severe underrepresentation makes the data difficult to collect because of their vulnerablity/identification. How to use information to change dept. climate, navigating political issues.