Bridging the Gap: Assessing Gender Representation in Faculty Compositions Across Public Universities in California

• In Event: 50220 - Section on Organizations, Occupations, and Work Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 4: Careers in Higher Education

Abstract

Despite decades of progress towards gender parity in higher education institutions, women remain underrepresented in tenure system positions across universities. Conventional explanations for this gender disparity emphasize individual career choices or structural barriers driving leaky pipeline progression but overlook meso-level institutional factors that influence gender representation across faculty ranks in the tenure system. This study addresses the limitations of population and individual level approaches by adopting a meso-level framework using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from 2007 to 2021, demonstrating how system affiliation, a proxy for institutional status, shapes gender representation at the University of California campuses and California State University campuses. I used Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression with cluster robust standard errors to demonstrate how institutional characteristics, such as STEM concentration, admissions selectivity, Pell Grant recipient proportions, endowment funding, and share of faculty in the tenure system moderate the relationship between system affiliated prestige and gender representation in the tenure system. Across models, I reveal how University of California campuses employ significantly fewer women in tenure positions than California State University campuses. While both systems showing an increasing trend in female representation over time, University of California campuses are significantly increasing gender representation faster than California State University campuses, though California State University campuses are notably closer to reaching gender parity. This study notes the persistent influence of institutional status on gender disparities and highlights the need for future research to examine how institutional status, structural constraints, and resource distributions, and shape changes in gender representation over time.

Author

• Kaylee de la Motte, The University of Arizona