How to Survive STEM Academia as a Tenure-track Woman: Roadblocks,Entryways,and Advice on How to Make It Through

Abstract

This research amplifies the voices of 77 tenured and nearly tenured women in STEM academia who responded to a series of open-ended questions regarding perceived barriers and supports on the path toward tenure. The current study compared these responses to those collected five years earlier, when participants were untenured, to analyze changes over time (Gregor et al., 2022). Consensual qualitative research-modified (CQR-M; Spangler et al., 2011) was utilized to analyze the data. Findings reveal a trend of increasing administrative, institutional, and systemic barriers to tenure between 2018 and 2023, which included the impacts of COVID-19, and disproportionately impacted women with children and women of color. Supports to combat these barriers and advice and wisdom from tenured women in STEM are also provided. Insight from this population, implications for working women post-pandemic, and strengths and limitations of the study will be discussed.

Keywords

tenure STEM consensual qualitative research-modified (CQR-M)women faculty oppression leaky pipeline pre-tenure post-tenure

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