Women Business Professors Less Likely Than Their Male Peers to Be Named to Endowed Chairs

A study led by a Len Trevino, a professor of management in the College of Business at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, finds women continue to face barriers in appointments to the highest-level faculty positions at business schools. The study found that women were less likely than men to be appointed to endowed chairs at leading business schools.

Professor Trevino stated that “we found irrefutable evidence that, in line with double-standards theory, women have to do a lot more work than men to get similar rewards. Males at the top run the show and they interact with other male gatekeepers. The competence of female faculty is more likely to be questioned while male competence is taken for granted by the gatekeepers. Academic institutions, like some other businesses, were created by men and for men. Things are changing but they’re changing too slowly, in our estimation.”

The full study, ” Meritocracies or Masculinities? The Differential Allocation of Named Professorships by Gender in the Academy,” was published in the Journal of Management. It may be downloaded by clicking here.