Navigating the Hidden Curriculum in Job Hunting for East Asian Transnational Female Ph.D. Graduates in the U.S.: A Collaborative Feminist Autotheory

• In Event: Virtual Roundtable Session 2
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Negotiating Belonging in Education: Identity, Power, Peace and Resistance

Proposal

Introduction
Despite the increase in female doctoral holders earning their degrees abroad, there is a dearth of research on how these transnational individuals navigate job market processes. Critical reflections on this population’s job market experiences matter to supporting their mental health and post-graduation career paths because conventional career advice at Western higher institutions often overlooks the hidden curriculum and employers’ implicit biases that can affect the recruitment process. Through a collaborative feminist autotheory, this paper aims to illuminate transnational academic job-hunting experiences by documenting the lived experiences of two East Asian female transnationals who completed their doctoral programs in the United States.

Literature Review
Studies show Asian female transnational doctoral degree holders have to navigate patriarchy in both Asian and American contexts, as they become subject to ‘glass ceiling for women plus a bamboo ceiling for Asians’ that pose roadblocks for their career development (Lim et al., 2021, p. 651). Alongside the growing scarcity of tenure-track positions, transnational female doctoral degree graduates often navigate issues of citizenship, age/gendered societal expectations, geographic and emotional familial ties, among other personal and institutional factors that shape their career trajectory. For example, based on the survey of 86 East Asian international graduate students in the U.S., Lin and Flores (2013) argue how they have unique job hunting needs compared to their local counterparts due to the institutionalized marginality such as the need to secure post-graduation visa and future visa sponsorship, as well as linguistic and cultural factors that may negatively impact their job candidacy due to their perceived foreignness by their interviewers. Especially when higher education is believed to contribute to upward social mobility in Asia, doctoral degree graduates of Asian descent can be susceptible to ‘cruel optimism’ in academia (Berlant, 2011; Yu & Shirahada, 2025) when in reality there are barriers to securing academic jobs, whether in their countries of origin or abroad, as they may face Othering.

Theoretical and Conceptual Framework
For the theoretical and conceptual framework, we use transnational feminist theory (Mayuzumi, 2008) to illustrate how “power relations inside and outside a nation-state are reflected in institutions and people” especially for women (p. 169), and the concept of Othering that can manifest as an interplay of racial, linguistic, and social alienation during the recruitment process (Liu, 2021).

Methodology
To call for a decolonial, strengths-based approach to support the career development and mental health of transnational Asian female doctoral degree holders, this paper is crafted through a collaborative feminist autotheory (Fournier, 2022).

Conference Theme Relevance and Objectives
We believe our paper is relevant to the theme of the conference given its focus to promote more equitable and inclusive hiring processes and well-being for marginalized scholars and professionals. During the roundtable, we hope to create a safe space for participants to share their experiences during the academic job hunting process, especially in relation to their intersectional identities. Our objective for the paper is to make recommendations to career services staff members, faculty advisors, and campus therapists who work with transnational students.

Authors

• Asuka Ichikawa, Boston College

• Sarang Kim, University of Oklahoma