Newswise — Researchers from South Dakota’s six public universities will examine employee policies and evaluations to identify gender inequities within the South Dakota Board of Regents system through a Partnerships for Learning and Adaptation Networks grant from the National Science Foundation. South Dakota State University faculty will lead the five-year, nearly $750,000 research project, which seeks to identify policies that affect gender equity. Faculty representatives from University of South Dakota, the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Northern State University, Dakota State University and Black Hills State University will work on the project.
“These kinds of studies have almost exclusively been done in private industry,” said SDSU sociology professor Meredith Redlin, the PLAN grant principal investigator. “We are one of the first groups of researchers to examine a higher education public employee system.”
The PLAN program is part of NSF’s effort to increase the participation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers known as ADVANCE.
Assistant psychology professor Amanda Macht Jantzer and communication professor Elizabeth Tolman are also co-principal investigators for the SDSU team. SDSU sociology professor and department chair Mary Emery will serve as the internal evaluator for the grant, while professor KerryAnn O’Meara of the University of Maryland will serve as external consultant.
The researchers will look at three areas for potential policy change and adaptation, according to Redlin. First, the team will examine general policies within the board of regents system at the state and institution levels.
Issues such as maternity leave that force employees to use their sick leave and leave without pay can be impediments for women, in particular, she explained. However, Redlin pointed out, “Gender equity includes all of us—parental leave policies are for everybody.” If one institution is more successful in its attention to gender equity, the researchers will bring those best practice policies forward.
Second, the research teams will do what Redlin called “a blinded analysis of faculty evaluations.” This will help them answer the question: “Is there equity in how the evaluation is conducted between men and women?” Research in private industry has shown that men and women in the same position may be evaluated differently, Redlin pointed out. “It’s the classic stuff—he’s assertive, but she’s pushy.”
In addition, she said, “there’s a lot of literature about women being professionally more reticent to claim great things.”
Finally, the researchers will examine personal aspirations based on the goals that employees set for themselves in those evaluations. By evaluating policies on a systemwide, institutional and individual basis, Redlin said, “any inequities, be they related to race, sexuality or nationality will show up within our research.”
About South Dakota State UniversityFounded in 1881, South Dakota State University is the state’s Morrill Act land-grant institution as well as its largest, most comprehensive school of higher education. SDSU confers degrees from eight different colleges representing more than 175 majors, minors and specializations. The institution also offers 32 master’s degree programs, 15 Ph.D. and two professional programs. The work of the university is carried out on a residential campus in Brookings, at sites in Sioux Falls, Pierre and Rapid City, and through Cooperative Extension offices and Agricultural Experiment Station research sites across the state.
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