A chilly conference climate: The influence of sexist conference climate perceptions on women's academic career intentions

Abstract

Despite women's increased presence in academia, women are still underrepresented in faculty positions relative to men. Though many obstacles interfere with women's academic career success, including family responsibilities and disproportionate resources relative to men (Ceci & Williams, 201l; Lewis, 2009), this research focused on the conference context as one potential contributor to women's academic career intentions. The present research explored the extent to which sexist climate perceptions were related to women's experiences during the conferences, their coping tactics, and their academic exit intentions relative to men's. The conference context was chosen because conferences have yet to be empirically examined for their potential to influence women's consideration of an academic career (Jacobs & McFarlane, 2005). Presenters (63% women) from three national academic conferences completed an online survey. Results showed that the greater representation of women at the conference, the less sexist attendees perceived the conference. Additionally, women who perceived the conference as sexist and silenced during the conference expressed increased intention to exit from academic careers. On the other hand, men who perceived the conference as sexist expressed increased intention to exit from that particular conference, rather than academia. Implications for conference attendees, conferences, and academia are discussed.