Can Women Faculty Say No? The Gendered Expectation of Mentorship

Abstract

Women in academia tend to take on the caretaker role in their departments by fulfilling most of the less promotable service work like mentoring. The perceived fit between this service and the communal stereotype of women creates expectations that women should take on these roles, which can lead to backlash if women violate these expectations. This study investigates gendered expectations in academia by evaluating whether women faculty experience more backlash for declining a student’s mentorship request than their male counterparts. Participants read a profile of a faculty member (male or female) and an email exchange between that faculty member and a student requesting mentorship. The faculty member either declined or accepted the request and participants rated the faculty member on interpersonal measures. Results indicated that men and women faculty were both rated more negatively by students when they declined the request, suggesting that women can say no to mentoring without the burden of gendered backlash. Given that some predicted effects approached significance, it is important to understand other factors that may impact perceptions, including whether the reason for declining, field of study (i.e., STEM), and the gender of student may impact the extent of backlash. This work furthers our understanding of whether women faculty can say no to service and focus on more promotable tasks without hurting their reputations.