Beyond Leaky Pipelines: Exploring Gender Inequalities in Archaeological Practice

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Beyond Leaky Pipelines: Exploring Gender Inequalities in Archaeological Practice" at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Numerous recent studies have demonstrated that an increase in the number of women with PhDs in anthropological archaeology has not substantially altered the percentage of women submitting senior NSF grants, publishing their research in peer-reviewed journals, or engaging in other prestigious academic activities. This session has two primary goals. First, it aims to continue documenting gender inequalities in archaeological practice by exploring a wider range of scholarly activities than is traditionally considered and with an explicit focus on questions of labor and prestige. Is there relative gender parity in the authors included in syllabi for archaeological courses, and who is doing the work to achieve better representation? How do intersectional identities differentially affect women in the field of archaeology? Second, this session aims to move beyond documentation to help explain why gender inequalities persist and how they might be ameliorated. Should scholars, for instance, critically examine often taken for granted notions, such as fit and prestige, that may unintentionally perpetuate exclusion? Or, should researchers attempt to articulate the subtle yet active ways in which inequality is enacted, such as gender devaluation and performative informality? Participants are encouraged to adopt new and innovative perspectives on a stubborn and persistent problem.