Abstract
For decades now, mentoring has been hailed as an important workplace learning and career development activity for women and men across a variety of organizational contexts including universities and schools, hospitals, corporations, government departments, and not-for-profit and community-based establishments. Since the 1970s, there has been a recognition that mentoring has great potential to enhance the learning and career outcomes of women and, for this reason, there has been a proliferation of formal mentoring programs established to support them. These formal mentoring programs for women are ubiquitous in universities in Australia and overseas. Their purpose ranges from providing women with career planning support, to socializing them into the role of academic, to developing their learning and specific skills in research and/or teaching. A recent development in the literature has been the argument for sponsorship for women academics rather than mentoring based on the assumption that the former is primarily associated with enhancing career outcomes while the latter tends to be concerned with psycho-social development. This chapter reviews the research and literature on mentoring for women in the academy in order to gain a better insight into its nature, purpose, scope, and benefits and challenges. It also considers some of the theoretical literature that has impacted upon and shaped its conceptualizations. The position taken in the chapter is that women in academe are likely to require multiple forms of mentoring and the specific type and focus will depend on their personal circumstances, interests, and needs.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Block, B. A., & Tietjen-Smith, T. (2016). The case for women mentoring women. Quest, 68(3), 306–315. https://doi.org/10.1080/00336297.2016.1190285.
Blood, E. A., Ullrich, N., Hirshfeld-Becker, D. R., Seely, E. W., Connelly, M. T., Warfield, C. A., & Emans, S. J. (2012). Academic women faculty: Are they finding the mentoring they need? Journal of Women’s Health, 21(11), 1201–1208. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2012.3529.
Brabazon, T., & Schulz, S. (2018). Braving the bull: Women, mentoring and leadership in higher education. Gender and Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2018.1544362.
Campbell, J. (2008). The hero with a thousand faces (3rd ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Catalyst. (2010). Maximizing mentoring and securing sponsorship. http://www.state.in.us/icw/files/catalyst.pdf
Chitsamatanga, B. B., Rembe, S., & Shumba, J. (2018). Mentoring for female academics in the 21st century: A case study of a South African university. International Journal of Gender and Women’s Studies, 6(1), 52–58.
Clawson, J. G., & Kram, K. (1984). Managing cross gender mentoring. Business Horizons, 27(3), 22–32.
Clutterbuck, D. (2004). Everyone needs a mentor: Fostering talent in your organisation (4th ed.). London, England: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Cobb-Roberts, D., Esnard, T., Unterreiner, A., Agosto, V., Karanxha, Z., Beck, K., & Wu, K. (2017). Race, gender and mentoring in higher education. In D. A. Clutterbuck, F. Kohan, L. G. Lunsford, N. Dominguez, & J. Haddock-Millar (Eds.), The Sage handbook of mentoring (pp. 374–388). London: Sage.
Cross, M., Lee, S., Bridgman, H., Thapa, D. K., Cleary, M., & Kornhaber, R. (2019). Benefits, barriers and enablers of mentoring female health academics: An integrative review. PLoS One, 14(4), e0215319. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0215319.
de Vries, J., & Binns, J. (2018). Sponsorship: Creating career opportunities for women in higher education. Canberra, Australia: Universities Australia Executive Women (UAEW).
de Vries, J., Webb, C., & Eveline, J. (2006). Mentoring for gender equality and organisational change. Employee Relations, 28(6), 573–587. https://doi.org/10.1108/01425450610704506.
Devos, A. (2007). Fashioning subjectivity through workplace mentoring. In L. Farrell & T. Fenwick (Eds.), Educating the global workforce (pp. 178–188). New York, NY: Kogan Page.
Devos, A. (2008). Where enterprise and equity meet: The rise of mentoring for women in Australian universities. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 29(2), 195–205. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596300801966831.
Durham University. (2019). Women in academia mentoring programme. https://www.dur.ac.uk/lets.network/femaleacademicprogression/femaleacademicprogressionmentoring/
Ehrich, L. C. (2008). Mentoring and women managers: Another look at the field. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 23(7), 469–483.
Ehrich, L. C., & Kimber, M. (2016). The purpose and place of mentoring for women managers in organisations: An Australian perspective. In M. L. Connerley & J. Wu (Eds.), Handbook on well-being of working women (International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life, pp. 225–241). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer Science+Business Media. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9897-6_14.
Foucault, M. (1983). The subject and power. In H. L. Dreyfus & P. Rabinow (Eds.), Michel Foucault: Beyond structuralism and hermeneutics (2nd ed.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Gardiner, M., Tiggemann, M., Kearns, H., & Marshall, K. (2007). Show me the money! An empirical analysis of mentoring outcomes for women in academia. Higher Education Research and Development, 26(4), 425–442.
Garvey, B. (2017). Philosophical origins of mentoring: The critical narrative analysis. In D. A. Clutterbuck, F. Kochan, L. G. Lunsford, N. Dominguez, & J. Haddock-Millar (Eds.), The Sage handbook of mentoring (pp. 15–33). London: Sage.
Graham, C. (2019). Literature review: The gap between mentoring theory and practice for diverse women faculty. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnerships in learning, 27(2), 131–143. https://doi.org/10.1080/13611267.2019.1611273.
Hammer, T., Trepal, H., & Speedlin, S. (2014). Five relational strategies for mentoring female faculty. Adultspan, 13(1), 4–14.
Hansford, B. C., Tennent, L., & Ehrich, L. C. (2003). Educational mentoring: Is it worth the effort? Education Research and Perspectives, 39(1), 42–75.
Hansman, C. A. (2002). Diversity and power in mentoring relationships. In C. A. Hansman (Ed.), Critical perspectives on mentoring: Trends and issues (Information Series No. 388, ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career and Vocational Education, pp. 39–48). Columbus, OH: Ohio State University.
Hewlett, S. A., Peraino, K., Sherbin, L., & Sumberg, K. (2010). The sponsor effect: breaking through the glass ceiling. Harvard Business Review Research Report, December. http://30percentclub.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/The-Sponsor_Effect.pdf
Homer. (1992). The Odyssey (T. E. Shaw, Trans.). Great Britain, UK: Wordsworth Classics.
Jacobi, M. (1991). Mentoring and undergraduate academic success: A literature review. Review of Educational Research, 61(4), 505–532.
Jordan, J. V., Hartling, L. M., & Baker, J. (2008). The development of relational-cultural theory. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247836552_The_Development_of_Relational-Cultural_Theory
Kanter, R. (1977). Men and women of the corporation. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Koontz, A., Walters, L., & Edkin, S. (2019). Positively supporting women faculty in the academy through a novel mentoring community model. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 11(1), 102–117.
Kram, K. (1985). Mentoring at work: Developmental relationships in organizational life. Glenview, IL: Scott Foresman.
Levine, R. B., Lin, F., Kern, D. E., Wright, S. M., & Carrese, J. (2011). Stories from early career women physicians who have left academic medicine: A qualitative study at a single institution. Academic Medicine, 86(6), 752–758.
Levinson, D. J., Darrow, C. N., Klein, G. B., Levinson, M. H., & McKee, B. (1978). The seasons of a man’s life. New York, NY: Ballentine.
Mayer, A. P., Blair, J. E., Ko, M. G., Patel, S. I., & Files. (2014). Long-term follow up of a facilitated peer mentoring program. Medical Teacher, 36(3), 260–266.
McManus, S. E., & Russell, J. E. A. (2007). Peer mentoring relationships. In B. R. Ragins & K. E. Kram (Eds.), Handbook of mentoring at work (pp. 273–297). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412976619.
Meschitti, V., & Smith, H. L. (2017). Does mentoring make a difference for women academics? Evidence from the literature and a guide for future research. Journal of Research in Gender Studies, 7(1), 166–199. https://doi.org/10.22381/JRGS7120176.
Monash University. (2020). Women’s mentoring program. https://www.monash.edu/gender-equity/programs/mentoring
Moreland, M., & Thompson, T. (2019). Mentoring female leaders at multiple levels in one higher education institution. In H. L. Schnackenberg & D. S. Simard (Eds.), Challenges and opportunities for women in higher education leadership (pp. 20–28). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Mullen, C. A. (2012). Mentoring: An overview. In S. J. Fletcher & C. A. Mullen (Eds.), The Sage handbook of mentoring and coaching in education (pp. 7–23). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Petersen, S., Pearson, B. Z., & Moriarty, M. A. (2020). Amplifying voices: Investigating a cross-institutional, mutual mentoring program for URM women in STEM. Innovative Higher Education, 45, 317–332. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-020-09506-w.
Quinn, J. (2012). Mentoring: Progressing women’s career in higher education. London, UK: Equality Challenge Unit, April.
Rush University. (2020). Rush Women mentoring program. https://www.rushu.rush.edu/about/faculty-affairs/rush-mentoring-programs/rush-women-mentoring-program
Schramm, S. (2000). Thinking thrice: A feminist response to “mentoring” that marginalizes (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED446463). Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina, Department of Educational Leadership and Policies.
Steele, M., & Fisman, S. (2014). The value and role of mentoring and role models in attracting and retaining junior women faculty in academic medicine. In A. Vongalis-Macrow (Ed.), Career moves: Mentoring for women advancing their career and leadership in Academia (pp. 61–70). Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
Turnbull, B. J., & Roberts, K. (2005). Nurse-academics’ mentorship: Rhetoric or reality? Collegian, 12(2), 33–38.
UNESCO. (2017). Supporting women scientists: Mentoring, networks and role models. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/priority-areas/gender-and-science/supporting-women-scientists/
Universities Australia (2020). 2019 Selected inter-institutional gender equity statistics. Canberra: Universities Australia. 2019-UA-Selected-Inter-Institutional-Gender-Equity-Statistics.pdf (universitiesaustralia.edu.au)
University of Otago. (n.d.). Academic women mentoring. Higher Education Development Centre. https://www.otago.ac.nz/hedc/staff/women/mentor/index.html
Van den Brink, M., & Benschop, Y. (2014). Gender in academic networking: The role of gatekeepers in professorial recruitment. Journal of Management Studies, 51(3), 460–492. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12060.
Voytko, M. L., Barrett, N., Courtney-Smith, D., Golden, S. L., Hsu, F. C., Knovich, M. A., & Crandall, S. (2018). Positive value of a women’s junior faculty mentoring program: A mentor-mentee analysis. Journal of Women’s Health, 27(8), 1045–1053. https://doi.org/10.1089/wh.2017.6661.
Workplace Gender Equality Agency. (2016). Supporting careers: Mentoring or sponsorship? Australian Government. https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2014-03-04_PP_Mentoring_or_sponsorship.pdf
Yun, J. H., Baldi, B., & Sorcinelli, M. D. (2016). Mutual mentoring for early-career and underrepresented faculty: Model, research, and practice. Innovation Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-016-9359-6.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Ehrich, L.C. (2022). Mentoring for Women Academics: What Works. In: English, F.W. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Educational Leadership and Management Discourse. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99097-8_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99097-8_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-99096-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-99097-8
eBook Packages: EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education