The Struggles of AAPI Women in Higher Education by Mao Otajima

In “Asian American Pacific Islander Women From PH. D To Campus President: Gains And Leaks In The Pipeline” by Edith Wen-Chu Chen and Shirley Hune, the authors claim Asian American Pacific women are underrepresented in higher educational institutions. They face many obstacles such as hopeless promotions at faculty level. The “Leaky pipeline” means Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) women are likely to leave the profession without achieving their goals. Also, many students give up the process to gain PH. D. In fact, AAPI women have gained greater numbers of doctoral than their counterparts; however, they are already underrepresented than their counterparts at assistant level. Moreover, their representations decrease dramatically as the rank goes higher. The lack of high achievements are an example of the "glass ceiling". On the other hand, white males are overrepresented in higher education compared to the numbers of degree earners. They are likely to get promoted easily because of the social connections and racial prejudice. The glass ceiling and the white male domination in higher education institutions called chilly climate make it difficult for AAPI women to reach the top in academic field.

The glass ceiling keeps AAPI women from obtaining their PH. D or presidential position. Even though AAPI women have motivations to aim at these academic successes, it is still difficult for them because the academic field is highly dominated by white males. This is also statistically true according to the authors. In the faculty level, if the people of the section (usually tenure professors) that determines faculties’ promotion is heavily dominated by whites, they tend to promote same kind of people because of the social connections. AAPI women don’t have these social connections to get promoted easily. Moreover, their ability and achievements are often ignored because they are not considered as an important member of the department. Their Asian related papers are often considered not academic enough for experts’ works because such heavily Western minded faculties regard the East as subordination of their world. It is a natural tendency that for people to care and pay attention to same kind of people because they subconsciously are familiar with each other. For example, I would feel comfortable with Asian professors, especially if they are female than a white male professor. I just assume that Asian female professors are more aware of where I come from as an Asian person. Conversely, at the entrance level they are likely to be hired to represent racial equality. Even though the affirmative action is banned in California, equal representation of race and gender is considered. If we consider that white males are the top of the racial and gender social structure in this society, colored women like AAPI women are at the bottom. If an academic institute already have AAPI woman in their faculty, the personnel section would think that there is enough representation of minority people. AAPI women fill the categories of gender and race in apparent representation. In the other words, they hire AAPI women only because they are women of color regardless of their ability to prove that they are not racist. These obstacles keep AAPI women even at the bottom of the glass ceiling. It seems, it is impossible for AAPI women to enter the cycle of white domination. There are already white people dominating the educational environment, and they will hire their people. There is no way for AAPI women to sneak into this vicious circle. It is not only the problem for AAPI women, but for all the non-white people. This is one of biggest issue we have in this diverse country in 21st century. However, I don't want them to give up because I believe we can change the situation somehow someday in the future as long as we are trying to change.  

      Now, how does the chilly climate in higher education affect APPI women? As I already mentioned, the academic field is heavily dominated by white males. The White male culture emphasizes Western values. In terms of leadership, their emphasis is not qualified by APPI’s leadership style. Asian culture values harmony of people; therefore, a leader works as an organizer. A leader often just listens and analyzes the group. He or she is not required to have strong personality or opinions. On the other hand, western style of leadership requires aggressiveness and willfulness. He or she must be the one who is always loudly talking. Because APPI women’s leadership doesn’t qualify western leadership style, they are often considered that they have no rolls in a group. APPI women may have brilliant thoughts, but they sometimes don’t even feel like to be aggressive, and express their opinions because it simply doesn’t match with their values. Talking over people is considered rude in many AAPI culture. This difference keeps APPI women away from a leader position which means no promotion. Why don't we be a little bit smarter and adopt both of the leadership styles? There is nothing like which is bad or good. It is just different styles of leadership, and the Western type just happens to be accepted in this case because white people are majority in this particular environment. It may be hard to adopt a new way for the first time because you are automatically comfortable with the way you are grow up with, but it will be a huge development of self-cultivation as an individual, if you can successfully assimilate. If we know the difference and adopt strong points from both of them, we can produce greater capability of anything. Another obstacle is that APPI cultures often consider nurture and household chores as women’s job. Many APPI female students and faculties are sacrificing their time for their families while white females are concentrating their academic achievements. APPI women are disadvantaged because they can’t devote to academic work. It causes lower achievements than their maximum ability, so that they lose in academic competitions. Moreover, AAPI faculties face difficulty of gaining respects from students. They often look younger than what they actually are, and differ from typical image of a professor. Students may talk more casually than how they talk to a white male professor. The feedback from students also effect their promotion. These situations of chilly climate give APPI women motivations to give up their academic goals.

Overall, the “glass ceiling” limits APPI women’s possibility for highest achievements in academic field, and chilly climate makes the environment in the glass more difficult for APPI women; however, we should not give up our efforts because there are always ways to change the situations.

Mao Otajima