Gender Versus Class: A Metasynthesis of Working-Class Women Faculty Narratives

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Navigating Institutional Contexts

Abstract

In this study, we utilize an intersectional feminist framework to understand how female-identified working-class (FIWC) faculty members make sense of their gender and working-class identities as they navigate academia. Current literature on working-class individuals in the academy primarily focuses on the undergraduate student population and looks at it through the lenses of working-class culture, their relationship to education, and the performance paradigm requiring students to assimilate to middle-class culture. Consistent with feminist theories commitment to storytelling, we conducted a metasynthesis of 35 existing FIWC faculty’s self-narratives of navigating the academy to move towards a theoretical understanding of the experiences of FIWC students and faculty. This is the first study to date to synthesize working-class academics narratives while centering gender identity.

Authors

• Sarah M. Jordon, University of Denver

• Cecilia M. Orphan, University of Denver