Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Alexander-Floyd, Nikol G.

Titel

Women of Color, Space Invaders, and Political Science: Practical Strategies for Transforming Institutional Practices

Ist Teil von

• PS, political science & politics, 2015-07, Vol.48 (3), p.464-468

Ort / Verlag

New York, USA: Cambridge University Press

Erscheinungsjahr

2015

Quelle

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• In its recent report, the American Political Science Association's Task Force on Political Science in the 21st century persuasively argues that, to be relevant and effective, political science must come to grips with the increasing diversity in the US and its interconnectedness across the globe. Like other disciplines, political science has made "progress," but there is still much to be done (56). Although there has been an increase in the numbers of women and racial minorities, for instance, the improvement is relatively modest. Men still overwhelmingly dominate political science faculty, constituting 89.7% of faculty in 1980, and 71.4% in 2010. Furthermore, although the number of black women faculty increased from 4.3 to 6.1%, and Latina faculty rose from 2.3 to 3.0 %, they are not similarly situated as their male counterparts in terms of promotion. In one recent survey of departments, there were 58 African American female and 38 Latina assistant faculty, compared to 88 African American men and 62 Latinos (Alexander-Floyd 2008). There were only 58 black women and 25 Latinas at the associate level, compared to 100 black men and 60 Latinos at that rank. The numbers are even more startling in terms of full professors, with 102 African American men and 37 Latinos holding that title, compared to 19 African American women and only 7 Latinas at that rank. Although the numbers are low for black men and Latinos, the relative lack of success in promotion for black women and Latinas suggests their story has a different dimension, and underscores, I argue, the necessity of institutional change.