Employment status of female faculty in institutions of higher education. León, Guanajuato, 2012-2015

Abstract

This article recovers an investigation on the employment perceptions of female faculty in four different Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in León (Guanajuato, Mexico), performed between 2012 and 2015. Its main objective was to verify if their institutional context reinforced the sex-gender system, preventing their professional development within their Academic Community. The exploratory qualitative methodology used, sought the experiences of ten female faculty who had obtained a Masters or Doctorate Degree - or that were in the process of obtaining it. The first selection of the sample was done out of convenience, then by an avalanche of study subjects, ending finally with a deliberate selection of the subjects to be studied being addressed through semi-structured interviews using a predesigned script. This non-probabilistic qualitative sampling was preceded by a quantitative exploration on the disaggregated population by gender, which included a total of 64 private HEIs, with 82 campuses; and 11 public HEIs with 16 campuses. The quantitative exploration denoted that in teaching positions women were a minority (15% less in private HEIs and 20% less in public HEIs); that the professor-researcher positions, both male and female, decreased during the period of this study; and that in positions for full-time researchers there were no women. The critical analysis of the discourse provided by the interviewees evidenced that the prevailing sex-gender system in the academic environment revolved around gender acting as a regulator of labour practices which subjects women to the power of males; thus undermining the professional development of women. As a result, this study presents that even if the institutional regulations promote gender equality, the organizational culture still holds women in a subordinated level.