Women Advising Women: Socializing Doctoral Students Into a Culture of Sacrifice

Abstract

Despite positive changes in relation to gender, academic culture continues to be characterized by patriarchal attitudes, behaviors, and structures. Twelve cisgender women doctoral students were interviewed as part of this constructivist grounded theory study investigating how doctoral students in women-majority departments understand their possibilities for success within the culture of academic patriarchy. Women academics can participate in their own oppression and the oppression of others based on gender. Findings indicate that women faculty and doctoral student advising dyads, while beneficial in many ways, are not free from the influences of gender-based oppression and often serve as mediums for socializing women into a culture of sacrifice. They view success in three domains: personal, relational, and disciplinary. Due to the influence of patriarchy, women are socialized to believe they can only achieve simultaneous success in two domains while having to sacrifice success in the third. Implications for this study indicate that representation of women in numbers is not enough to eliminate the harmful effects of patriarchy within academic culture.