Ashe powerpoint 11 19-11[1] allie final

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP & POLICY

There’s a Policy: Nobody Bats an Eye at Babies Being Born…

Using Institutional Policy Discourse to Reframe

Tenure & Parenting for the Next Generation

Jennifer L. Allie Department of Educational Leadership & Policy University of Utah

Association for the Study of Higher Education–Conference Paper Session – November 19, 2011


Theoretical Framework: Feminist Critical Discourse Policy Analysis

•  Gender is one of the primary frames of difference used in framing social relations.

•  How is dominance discursively produced and/or resisted

(Lazar, 2005)? •  How are we negotiating and challenging dominant

ideologies and power structures? •  Where are the possibilities for cultural change?

Lazar, M. (2005). Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis: Gender, Power and Ideology in Discourse.


Why Feminist Critical Policy Analysis?

“Fathers are reluctant to use parental leave when offered because it is contrary to the ethic of the male breadwinner. Mothers are afraid to use the policies that only women use for fear they will be treated as less serious about their work than men.” (Mason, 2011)

Mason, M.A. (2011). How to Change Workplace Culture on Parenting. Chronicle of Higher Education. January 12, 2011

“…and so I think there needs to be a really higher threshold set for men…Because I don’t know of one man who’s used it as it was intended. I’m sure they exist…I haven’t met any of them yet. ..”Hey there’s a policy out there. I’m gonna take advantage of it…” (Melody, 2010)

Educational Leadership & Policy

Culture of Tenure: – Institution evaluates faculty member’s ability to meet the expectations of the discipline during a pre-defined pre-tenure probationary period (e.g., teaching, service, research).

– During the pre-tenure years, faculty seek “clues about the value of…their work”1.

– Meeting expectations of tenured faculty and demonstrating collegiality, or being a good village elder2.

1) Fairweather, J.S. (2002). The Mythologies of Faculty Productivity. Journal of Higher Education, 73(1) 2) Youn & Price (2009). Learning from the Experience of Other: The Evolution of Faculty Tenure and Promotion Rules in Comprehensive Institutions. The Journal of Higher Education, 80(2), 204-237


Tenure as a Symbol, Ideology, and Power – Tenure as “rite of passage”3, 4. – Rules of tenure become signifiers of the organizations’ members shared values2.

– Tenure as power through governance authority, as well as authority to appoint, promote, tenure faculty within the discipline1,3,4.

3) Verrier (1992). On Becoming Tenured: Acquiring Academic Tenure at a Research University. 4) Verrier (1994. Perceptions of Life on the Tenure Track. Thought and Action 9(2)


Parental-Leave Policies and Changing the Academic Culture

“Transforming the academic workplace into one that supports family life requires substantial changes in policy and, more significantly, changes in academic culture”5.

“At present, academics are offered only two alternatives: work long hours and (with luck) get tenure, or refuse to work those hours and take the consequences.”6.

5) AAUP. (2006) Statement of Principles on Family Responsibilities and Academic Work 6) Drago & Williams (2000). A Half-Time Tenure Track Proposal. Change November/December 2000.


Work-Life Policies in the Academy • “The nature of academia, like anything else, is that when they’re competing, they pay attention”4.

• New faculty parents report not utilizing policies out of fear of being penalized7,8,9,

• Faculty are more prone to take advantage of policies that are well advertised and appear as an accepted part of department and institutional culture7,8,9,10.

7) Comer (2009). Changing Tables and Changing Culture. Composition Studies, 37(2) 8)Hollenshead et al (2005). Work/family policies in higher education: Survey data an case studies of policy implementation. New Directions for Higher Education (130). 9) Pribbenow et al (2010): The Tenure Process and Extending the Tenure Clock. Higher Education Policy 23(1) 10) Quinn et all (2007). Enabling Family-Friendly Cultural Change. Change 39(4)


Research Questions 1. How does institutional policy discourse shape the

construction of tenure throughout the policy process of adopting a formal paid parental leave policy?

2. How does institutional discourse confront or

sustain the culture of tenure for parent-scholars?


Methods: •  Critical Feminist Policy Discourse:

– Evaluate discourse of parental leave policy process at

Western University (2004-2007)

– Identify and critique the historic and social environments

framing tenure and parenting on the tenure track

– Critique the (re) production and construction of tenure for

parent-scholars

Allan, E. J. (2010). Policy Disourses, Gender, and Education: Constructing Women's Status. New York, NY: Routledge. Lazar, M. M. (2005). Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis: Gender, Power and Ideology in Discourse. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan


Feminist Critical Discourse Data Analysis


Findings: •  Ideology of the “Committed, Visible & Collegial” Scholar •  Competing Discourse of Leveling the Playing Field and

The Discourse of Abuse •  There’s A Policy: Nobody Bats an Eye at Babies Being

Born


The Committed, Visible & Collegial Academic:

[m]y department chair told me that while I could request unpaid leave, I would not be respected if I did so” (Faculty Response to Institutional Survey, 2003).

“I asked for a reduced teaching load for a semester based on my previous teaching…My request was declined…In fact some of my colleagues asked me how I was going to run a research lab if I took 6 weeks maternity leave (Faculty Response to Institutional Survey, 2003).

“I did receive some comments from colleagues who said things like "I waited until after tenure to have kids" (Faculty Response to Institutional Faculty Survey), 2003


The Committed, Visible & Collegial Academic: Presumptions about “Time Away” “Colleagues may also be called upon to sacrifice by having to cover the classes of the person on leave…students will suffer if no tenured or tenure-track professor is teaching their course…graduate students suffer through the absence of someone who could guide their research” (Faculty Governance Sub-Committee Response to Women’s Commission Policy Proposal, 2005).

“You didn't plan this well. This really puts a burden on our faculty." (Sarah, 2010)


The Committed, Visible & Collegial Academic: Use of Parental Leave Policy and Sustaining the “Ideal” Faculty Subjectivity “ I did research for the department to reshape our curriculum. So the one hour of the day when you’re caring for a newborn when I could have done something like washed the dishes…I was doing research for the department” (Sarah)

“And I felt like that especially as the second year person that my presence was in the department and not outside of the department” (Robert)

“so I was in my fourth year, and so I think I felt like I kinda needed to be around” (Melody)

“there were things that I probably wouldn’t have done having tenure that I felt oh, okay, I’d better do, because Dr. B and Dr. A are going, so I don’t want anyone to think that I’m not doing that” (Melody)


Commitment and Tenure Culture: Policy Solutions Modified duties will include being excused from teaching. Course reductions will not need to be “paid back” at a later date…Even if the faculty member chooses to work part-time during the semester of modified duties, she or he will not be compelled to work during this period. (Women’s Commission 2005 report)

Upon returning from the Family and Medical Sabbatical at Full Pay, the faculty member will teach more than their regular course load, so that over a period of one academic year they make up for the courses they failed to teach while on reduced duty. (Chair, Faculty Governing Board sub-committee)

The faculty member will be released from professional duties during this period, but may choose to continue some professional activities (e.g., meeting students, doing research, participating in hiring or RPT decisions). (Institutional Policy Language adopted 2006)


“There’s a Policy…Nobody Bats an Eye at Babies Being Born” “Just the fact that everyone knows I went on leave and it was sanctioned by the university, that just makes a big difference right there. I just gets rid of any concern about that being an inappropriate way of spending time.” (Andrew, 2010)

…because it’s policy, it makes it more accepted, and people might grumble a little bit but I think that it makes them act differently. I think it makes it seem like having a baby is the norm, not the exception, and taking time for that. So, I think that it could have given me more time, or if I didn’t take more time, it could also have definitely changed the culture. I think partly because my tenure case was so painful, but also because there’s a policy that nobody bats an eye about babies being born in this department now.” (Kim)


Leveling the Playing Field: The Discourse of Abuse

Finally, people from different quarters express concern that some faculty may abuse these policies, using them for professional advancement rather than to meet their substantial childcare responsibilities (Women’s Commission Policy Proposal, 2004)

“…unscrupulous faculty will take parental leave even if they are doing little or no childcare and that policy language that requires attestation of primary care-giving responsibilities will not hinder abuse, but rather hinders use by trustworthy faculty” (Faculty Senate Sub-Committee Chair, 2005)

“But he illustrated some of the problems with it in that he took it and his wife was at home with the kid and he had nothing to do with the baby and basically worked all the time…he used the fact that he was on parental leave as an excuse to not do any service work. And so his productivity during that time as magnified by the virtue of the policy.” (Faculty Interview Participant, 2010)

I think there needs to be a really a higher threshold set for men for – who take the policy. Because I don’t know of one man who’s used it as it was intended. I’m sure they exist. I’m sure there but, I haven’t met any of them yet. And these are good guys, but they’re just sort of like, “Hey, there’s a policy out there. I’m gonna take advantage of it. I’m gonna take a semester off.” (Melody)


Discussion: • Framing of the Formal Parental Leave Policy at Western University situates benefits as entitlements for faculty as a means for legitimizing “time away” for childbirth – as well as legitimizing an extended tenure clock

• Definition of the policy problem and framing of policy solutions is situated against and sustains construct of the ideal tenure faculty member

• Faculty signal to policy on the shelf to discursively construct time away and time off the tenure clock as normative for parent-scholars

• Ideology of the committed, visible, collegial and productive scholar creates tension on perceived individual agency in navigating the parental leave policy

• Institutional and Individual discourse of “abuse” and “primary care-giver” roles creates a tension for male parent-scholars •  Presumed that fathers not using policy as intended, but rather as a means to “boost

their scholarly productivity”


Implications and Significance: “The only way things are going to change…is for women and mothers (and fathers and husbands…) to enter the ranks of the professoriate and start to change things from the inside.” (Connelly & Ghodsee, 2011)

•  Policy process, solutions, and evaluations should challenge historic assumptions of the visible, committed, and productive academic – and the presumed incompatibility of these constructs with balancing personal roles, particularly for pre-tenure faculty members.

•  Institutions need to fully disentangle the assumptions regarding what it means to be committed, collegial, and visible

•  Perception that one’s time away and time off tenure clock via parental leave policies can be used to “boost” one’s scholarly portfolio needs to be disrupted.

•  Policy discourse that presumes these policies are being abused by men to boost scholarly records needs to be fully interrogated and disrupted.

Ashe powerpoint 11 19-11[1] allie final

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