ABSTRACT
For many women struggling to survive sexism in academia, the struggle is a lone one, as they (sometimes blindly) navigate the institutional particularities that dictate our success. Unsurprisingly, problems of sexism permeate the classroom, administrative work, and scholarly work alike. Consider for a moment the case of Elizabeth 1 :
Elizabeth is in her fifth year as an assistant professor and recently was singled out for her admirable service work. Later, though, in a one-on-one conversation, her dean (the same one who openly praised her) admonishes her for taking on too many women’s service roles. Elizabeth is understandably concerned. While she has participated in a network-mentoring program in the past, she feels alone because she does not know anyone in her network well enough to discuss this issue.
This example reminds us that sexism (or at least uneven treatment) is alive and well in the academy and that in order to survive, resist, and overcome sexism, scholars in academia need strategies and infrastructures. How can we help women overcome and thrive within existing institutional structures? Though many institutions boast mentoring programs (e.g., Darwin and Palmer 2009; Mullen 2009)—and some even with a focus on mentoring women—few mentoring programs overtly respond to sexism through infrastructural approaches as Women in Technical Communication (WomeninTC) 2 aims to do.