Title

Women Faculty at an Evangelical University: The Paradox of Religiously Driven Gender Inequalities and High Job Satisfaction

School/Department

School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Publication Date

7-2012

Abstract

This article examines the job satisfaction of women faculty at an evangelical university. Using mixed methods, the authors compared the job satisfaction of women faculty at an evangelical university with their male counterparts, as well as with men and women faculty at a secular research university in the same region. Paradoxically, they found higher levels of gender inequality at the evangelical university when compared to the secular university, yet also found higher levels of overall job satisfaction among female faculty at the evangelical university when compared to their secular university counterparts. The authors conclude that the evangelical “toolkit” 1 A. Swidler, “Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies,” American Sociological Review 51 (1986), 273–286.View all notes which highly values personal relationships with students combined with a form of “benevolent sexism” 2 P. Glick and S. T. Fiske, “The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory: Differentiating Hostile and Benevolent Sexism,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 70 (1996), 491–512.View all notes on this campus that allows for cordial and warm relationships between male and female faculty while simultaneously excluding women from important information and resources explain these paradoxical results.

Keywords

Working class women; Job satisfaction--Religious aspects; College teachers--Job satisfaction

Publication Title

Religion & Education

Volume

39

Issue

2

First Page

202

Last Page

229

DOI of Published Version

10.1080/15507394.2012.648574

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS