Judging Competence: Letters of Recommendation for Men and Women Faculties

Abstract

The question is, at present, can women seeking beginning-level positions-that very important first rung on a career ladder-obtain letters of recommendation that present them in as favorable a light as male applicants? Or, are there-for whatever reasons-systematic differences between the images presented of male and female applicants? If the images presented are different, it raises the possibility that applicants are perceived by letter writers not in terms of achievement but ascription. As Everett Hughes (1945, pp. 354-55) observed, "people carry in their minds a set of expectations concerning the auxiliary traits properly associated with many of the specific positions available in our society." In the colleague group or fellowworker group these expectations are especially important: "They become, in fact, the basis of the colleague-group's definition of its common interests, of its informal code, and of selection of those who become the inner fraternity." Focusing more specifically on the academy, some analysts believe that performance-publication, teaching, and service-in this realm is evaluated on the basis of objective professional standards. Others, in