Mentoring Of Women Of Color In Higher Education

There is a wealth of literature on the discrimination that women of color encounter in positions of authority in higher education. In this overview of the literature, research from books and papers will be presented. Because of obvious or hidden impediments, women in higher education who are interested in leadership positions give up on working in administration. Black and minority female students face nine obstacles in higher education, according to Jackson and Harris (2007). The impediments are: “race and gender intolerance,” “gate-keeping,” “glass ceiling,” “myths,” “lack of encouragement,” “lack of networking,” “board/trustee connections,” “family duties,” and “organizational barriers,” according to the article on page 121. (p. 123). For this research, 43 African American female university chancellors were questioned. On their journey to becoming a chancellor, the majority of women encounter some of these obstacles. Even in other leadership positions, these obstacles still persist.

According to Madsen (1998), women leaders need to cultivate a sense of community and be open to receiving and hearing other people’s views. In order to relieve stress and show respect for non-leaders and leaders who collaborate with them, women must also keep a sense of humor. According to Madsen (1998), female leaders should choose their battles wisely and speak with confidence and candor. Along with oratory abilities, she also touched on the importance of arithmetic, time management, writing, research, and other skills. These abilities make for an institution’s chancellor who is astute. Women in positions of leadership should find a mentor and have the right mindset. Although African American women are making progress in higher education, hurdles still persist, according to Jackson and Harris (2007). The more African American women advance in leadership positions, the more opportunities will become available to women who follow them.

How can women break free from the “glass ceiling” idea is one of the study issues Davis and Maldonado (2015) aim to address in their draft concept paper. This article’s research was qualitative phenomenological in nature. Five women were interviewed for this research by the writers. In their 2015 study, Davis and Maldonado examined the effects of race and gender on the lives of African American women who were emerging leaders. The authors state that although there is more study on women in leadership positions, very few studies have looked at the development of African American women’s leadership. The Department of Labor Statistics reports that 46% of leadership positions in the United States were held by women (U.S. Department of Labor, 2007). But in 2011, it increased to 51%. (U.S. Department of Labor, 2012).

Women have obstacles in leadership positions across the globe since they tend to hold low-level positions compared to males (Northouse, 2010). There seems to be a global tendency toward the low number. The Black Feminist Theory, which is described as comprehending race, gender, and class, is discussed by Davis and Maldonado (2015). The Black Feminist Theory has roots in the era of enslavement. In the essay, the writers also touch on feminist and sociocultural theory. The concerns surrounding women’s ongoing oppression and unfairness are examined by feminist thought (Davis & Maldonado, 2015). In order to understand how power works inside governmental and other institutions where it might be used to oppress individuals, sociocultural techniques look at issues of race, gender, and social position (Merriam & Caffarella, 1999).

From the experiences of women, five themes emerge. The following are the themes from Davis and Maldonado (2015): “pay it forward,” “predestined for success,” “sponsorship from the unexpected,” “double peril of race and gender,” and “learn how to play the game” (p. 60). According to the “Predestined for Achievement” concept, their success would not be possible without strong personal principles. Their family took care to implant in them certain traits. By explaining how their sponsors contributed to their professional tenure, the participants illustrate the sponsorship topic. The panelists discuss how their ascent to leadership positions was impacted by their color and gender, but they never allowed that stop them. Participants discuss how women must realize they are not welcome in the “good old guys’ club.” Women must find sponsors, however males were often eager to assist them develop their professions. Finally, Pay It Forward demonstrates how few mentorship connections exist for women. Women must put out effort to establish mentoring bonds with other African American women.

According to research by Parker (2015), the Dean of Women was the first supervisory role made available to women at coeducational institutions in the 1890s. The university needed to fill those posts. Due to the enormous growth in the number of female students on college campuses, having a dean of women became essential. According to research, female academics advance up the professional ladder less quickly than male professors do, produce less, have more work to do, and get less money (Parker, 2015). Relationships between mentors and mentees were advised to increase the number of female senior leadership roles (Parker, 2015). According to Helgesen (1990), women wouldn’t be admitted to areas of expertise until there was a balanced ratio of men and women in all international organizations.

African American women’s senior leadership experiences at North Carolina community colleges were assessed by Hague and Okpala (2017). Women made up 23% of college president jobs in 2006, although predominantly White women held such positions of authority ( American council on education, 2012). For this research work, the writers used the Black Feminist Theory. When abolitionists were fighting to abolish slavery, the Black feminist thought emerged. A system whose primary objective was to destroy black women as women treated them unequally as citizens and as people (Hague & Okpala, 2017). The idea of Black feminist philosophy is intertwined with issues of race, gender, and intersectionality. The idea that gender, race, and social class intersect to produce a system that gives African American women various unjust degrees of power and advantages is examined under the concept of intersectionality (Lloyd-Jones, 2009).

The writers were requested to discuss their past experiences in senior leadership. They suggested that networking, professional development, and mentorship are crucial components of leadership development. The majority of the authors believed that mentor-mentee connections were crucial to their transformation at the community colleges in North Carolina (Hague & Okpala, 2017). The writers suggested that people dominate professional development at community colleges, which trains leaders to lead at community colleges (Hague & Okpala, 2017). No matter if the training is in-state or out-of-town, everyone should make an effort to attend. Women should budget and save for their future careers.

In their conclusion, Hague and Okpala (2017) provide advice for African American women who want to lead in community colleges. First, it advised women to take charge of their professional education and training. The second recommendation is for African American women to look for mentorship opportunities with current or former top administration executives. Last but not least, African American women should establish business contacts at the local, national, and worldwide levels. According to Hague and Okpala (2017), a similar research with a bigger sample size should be carried out. They also recommend doing more research using a phenomenology study or a mixed-method approach.

The challenges that African American women encounter, such as marginalization, loneliness, a lack of mentor-mentee connections, and lack of visibility, were also mentioned by Allen and Butler (2014). To demonstrate how coethnic mentoring works, the authors offer two models. But over time, the proportion of African Americans in the faculty has significantly increased (Croom & Patton, 2012). Universities must step up their efforts to hire a diverse teaching and administrative staff. The negative cycle persists as fewer women decide not to serve as mentors to their younger colleagues. It is crucial to examine the many benefits of mentorship for African American professors (Allen & Butler, 2014).

Mentorship is when a person with higher-level positions, unique accomplishments, and prominence guides, advises, and supports the professional advancement of a younger faculty member. According to Jones et al(2013) .’s study, mentor-mentee connections are more beneficial for women who are terminal doctoral students. You can overcome any obstacles you encounter on your trip with the assistance of the appropriate mentor. After all, if they have never been in your shoes before, they are not mentors. According to Allen and Butler’s (2014) extended argument, the presence of African American senior faculty may open up opportunities to improve African American junior women faculty retention rates, research productivity, and job tenure overall. A coethnic mentoring demonstration approach was shown in Figure 1. Figure 2 is a model, nevertheless, that intentionally targets women of color.

Allen and Butler (2014) advised African American academic members in lower positions to look for mentors who share their racial identity, gender, and some of their life experiences. Two restrictions applied to the study. Only organizational metropolis was taken into account in the model as a mentoring resource. Second, the model involves a significant assumption that pleasant shared interactions occur in all circumstances, which is not always true. Allen and Butler (2014) acknowledge that further research is required to construct mentor-mentee relationship models like the one utilized in this study. The observed testing of the model, according to Allen and Butler (2014), may lead to a better understanding of the variances and outcomes of mentoring relationships.

The debatable ideas and frameworks about the dearth of African American women in high leadership positions are examined by Jones (2019). All women’s colleges, liberal arts schools, and the majority of two-year institutions are led by women chancellors (National Center for Education Statistics, 2015). In university senior leadership positions, particularly at four-year schools, males outnumber women (National Center for Education Statistics, 2015). Women of color experience “sexism” and “racism” (p. 8), “stereotypes” (p. 8), “isolation,” “glass ceiling theory,” “concrete ceiling theory,” and “pipeline theory,” among other things (p. 10). Some prominent female executives propose that society stop accepting different stereotypes (Perry & Gunderson, 2011). According to the glass ceiling idea, minority women experience prejudice more often than non-minority women ( Jones, 2019). The specific approach is a consequence of the glass ceiling and related workplace restrictions (Jones, 2019). The “pipeline myth” is another name for the pipeline notion. According to the pipeline argument, there are not enough women of color qualified for leadership positions since they are not graduating from terminal programs at a high rate.

According to Jones (2019), both quantitative and qualitative research should be used to gather nuanced data in order to understand crucial information on women instructors of color. Research must examine women’s leadership trajectories (Jones, 2019). Compared to males, women have a distinct kind of leadership style. According to Jones (2019), individuals need to comprehend the issue of women of color in top leadership roles, particularly from the standpoint of the changing nature of statistics in the university academy’s (Jones, 2019).

In 2014, Dunn, Gerlach, and Hyle investigated the leadership experiences of women of color in higher education. The underrepresentation of women in top leadership positions in higher education suggests that male candidates and leadership positions actively seek to exclude women ( Dunn et al., 2014). Men shouldn’t exclude women from leadership positions. The contributions indicated that relationships between mentors and mentees have a considerable impact on their ability to thrive in senior leadership positions (Dunn et al ., 2014). Women in administrative roles must take note of past errors. To further understand how gender affects regulatory contacts and outcomes, more research is required to examine the experiences of female executives in other academic institutions. This study boosted participants’ self-awareness and confidence in their ability to act as mentors in relationships between mentees and future female leaders (Dunn et al., 2014).

In her 2016 study, Duran analyses interactions amongst women of color in academia, with a particular emphasis on Latinas. The voices of women of color in higher education shouldn’t be ignored. In order to provide voice to women of color working at mostly White colleges, Latina graduate students started mentor-mentee initiatives in their communities (Flores & Garcia, 2009, p. 155). As a framework for examining Latina space, critical feminism, Latina/0 critical theory, and American third-world woman’s liberation are used ( Duran, 2016).

Critical racial feminism’s main goal is to combat essentialism (Flores & Garcia, 2009). According to the conventional theory of essentialism, all students should get systematic instruction in particular ideas and abilities regardless of their individual needs or capacities. (Dictionary.com). According to Duran (2016), mentorship connections are essential for the advancement of faculty women of color and women’s access to promotions. Relationships between mentors and mentees may support the important race theory for women of color. According to Duran (2016), institutions need to provide tools and encourage mentor-mentee relationships that value the experiences and voices of women of color.

Evans (2007) examined the reasons black women are underrepresented in academia and clarified tenure standards, particularly for the Florida University System. If a person meets the university’s requirements, they are granted tenure. 37 Black women were elevated to full professor positions at FAMU, while 128 Black women were made full professors (Evans, 2007). Observe the obvious difference between tenured professors in 2007. Many universities still tolerate racism. Workshops to prevent racism on campus are often not offered on college campuses (Evans, 2007). Colleges should provide lectures on race if they employ teachers from a wide range of backgrounds.

Last but not least, according to Evans (2007), inclusivity is a must if schools are to build a really outstanding academy in this nation. She proposes that colleges and universities should seek out a varied student body and faculty to better foster interactions, ideas, and frameworks. Evans (2007) shown via empirical research and succinct narratives that faculty of color operate within a common culture as opposed to a model of mainstream culture.