A web survey of senior women faculty looking into perceptions of subtle gender discrimination, hostility and sexual harassment

Clark, Linda D. (Linda Darlene)

Jull, Pamela

McKinney, Gary (Gary Russell)

English

In 1999, the Faculty Senate approved Western\u27s participation in a national survey of faculty conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI). Western\u27s preliminary analysis of the data revealed that Westerns full-time female faculty reported experiencing sexual harassment at a higher percentage than did full-time female faculty at peer institutions--with each cohort made up approximately 62% tenured faculty and 38% non-tenured faculty. It was also noted that Western\u27s female faculty were more likely to report feeling subtle discrimination than female faculty at peer institutions and less likely to agree that women faculty are treated fairly. Limited by the survey data at hand, the only other finding researchers could note was that sexual harassment was more likely to be reported by tenured female faculty than by non-tenured female faculty (34% of senior female faculty versus 8% of junior female faculty). While the data provided by the survey was obviously noteworthy, so too was the scarcity of data. Indeed, key problems with the national survey data included that:
no time frame was given; therefore it was unclear if the problems were long past or recent: and no definitions were given. In particular, were respondents interpreting sexual harassment as gender harassment (the former defined for this study as sexually intimidating or hostile behavior and the latter as poor treatment due to one\u27s gender)?
At the request of the Provost, a committee of faculty and expert researchers were formed in Winter 2001 to advise and plan a follow-up to the finding. This survey is the result of that committee\u27s efforts

Western Washington University

Western Washington UniversityWestern CEDAROffice of Survey Research Institutes, Centers, and Offices8-1-2002Perceptions of Subtle Gender Discrimination,Hostility, and Sexual Harassment among SeniorWomen Faculty at Western Washington UniversityLinda D. (Linda Darlene) ClarkWestern Washington UniversityPamela JullWestern Washington UniversityGary (Gary Russell) McKinneyWestern Washington UniversityFollow this and additional works at: https://cedar.wwu.edu/surveyresearch_docsPart of the Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research CommonsThis Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Institutes, Centers, and Offices at Western CEDAR. It has been accepted for inclusion inOffice of Survey Research by an authorized administrator of Western CEDAR. For more information, please contact westerncedar@wwu.edu.Recommended CitationClark, Linda D. (Linda Darlene); Jull, Pamela; and McKinney, Gary (Gary Russell), "Perceptions of Subtle Gender Discrimination,Hostility, and Sexual Harassment among Senior Women Faculty at Western Washington University" (2002). Office of Survey Research.507.https://cedar.wwu.edu/surveyresearch_docs/507

Perceptions of Subtle Gender Discrimination, Hostility, and Sexual Harassment among Senior Women Faculty at Western Washington University

https://cedar.wwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1426&amp;context=surveyresearch_docs

Perceptions of Subtle Gender Discrimination, Hostility, and Sexual Harassment among Senior Women Faculty at Western Washington University

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