Work, Nonwork, and Network: The Public and Private Lives of Women Chief Student Affairs Officers

摘要

Women make up a majority of those employed in higher education, yet they arestill a minority in leadership positions. Completing a doctoral degree, relocating forcareer advancement, and working in demanding, high time commitment roles aretypically required to achieve the chief student affairs officer (CSAO) position, as well ascontributors to burnout and attrition in the field. This study sought to gain a deeperunderstanding of the intersection of career progression (work), balance (nonwork) andrelationships (network) of women chief student affairs officers, specifically, how genderis an influence, understanding life roles and whether there is a cost of achievement in thefield. The literature in the field suggests the achievement and constant maintenance ofbalance, which is viewed through a male construct, is the norm. It is evident that theneed to understand the particular phenomenon of work and nonwork intersections ofwomen, particularly in the chief role, gives voice to an issue for women that have beenrarely heard in the field.This study utilized the naturalistic inquiry paradigm of research. The authorconducted in-depth interviews of nine women CSAOs at colleges and universities across the United States. Data were analyzed using a constant comparative method whichallowed the findings to emerge.The results show that women CSAOs felt that gender had a clear impact on theircareer both in their choices and how they were treated by others. The impact of genderhas been felt at all stages in their careers including in their roles as CSAOs on issues ofdiscrimination, leadership style, spousal expectations, and choices regarding if and when- or whether - to have children. Respondents also articulated the different domains oftheir life in terms of roles, but did not seem them as distinctly separate in the manner inwhich they manage their lives. Additionally, all of the respondents felt their public andprivate lives intersected and that keeping them in separate domains was not onlyimpossible, but unnecessary. Lastly, there were significant and ongoing costs ofachievement in the field, mostly notably lack of friends and short and/or long term healthproblems.