Beyond Leaky Pipelines and Glass Ceilings: Equity Issues on the Academic Track

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Presidential Session: What Is at Stake? The Impacts of Inequity and Harassment on the Practice of Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Achieving equity in academia is framed as a process of shattering glass ceilings, letting everyone climb as high as their abilities allow. The leaky pipeline metaphor relies on a future with enough diversity-in-waiting that some of it will flow to higher ranks. These metaphors give the impression that no one is acting badly, the system works as it should, and we just have to wait. Archaeology has an image that may make this situation worse than academia in general—our colonialist history and masculinist image reflects the face of power in the discipline. Looking at the people in power and not seeing oneself reflected is not enough to discourage students and early-career scholars. However, witnessing patterns of harassment and bullying, tenure denials, extra service that is less valued, lower pay, and other indignities, and being on the receiving end of microagressions does a great deal of damage. What are some of the current gaps in academic archaeology, so we might determine where the most urgent work is needed? What concrete actions might we consider that will ensure equity in archaeology?

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Presidential Session: What Is at Stake? The Impacts of Inequity and Harassment on the Practice of Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32634