Female and racialized professors are adversely affected by precarious working conditions, says a new study by the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT).
The CAUT survey of 2,600 contract academic staff (CAS) or “sessionals” finds that women and people of colour are more likely to be hired on a strictly term-by-term basis.
They also work more hours per course each week than their white male contract academic staff colleagues, and are overrepresented in lower income categories.
“There is no opportunity for career advancement for someone like myself with the contract structure I have,” said Dr. Jennifer Gagnon, a sessional instructor in the department of political sciences at UBC.
“I have been at UBC now [for six years]. I have no job security. My job is arguably more insecure than it has ever been in the time I’ve been at UBC and all of that is despite exceptional job performance.”
The survey shed light onto the specific experiences of marginalized groups on university campuses.
CAUT Executive Director David Robinson said the survey finds that women and minorities are often relegated to sessional status and struggle to gain access to tenured positions, noting that “there is a bit of ghettoization.” He added that this trend mirrors those in other industries.
“It's a reality when you look at academia that we have something that’s often called the leaky pipeline, which is the higher you go, the fewer women you see,” said Gagnon.
She also noted that faculty facing “multiple layers of oppression and discrimination” — such as Indigenous, disabled or queer professors — face similar or overlapping barriers.
The number of sessional university teachers working grew by 79 per cent from 2005 to 2015, according to the CAUT survey.
At UBC, 449 professors are employed on a short term contract. The employment equity online census found that 54.3 per cent of those sessionals are women, compared to only 26 per cent of full professors at UBC Vancouver.
Dr. Sylvia Fuller, a sociology associate professor who studies inequality and insecurity in labour market, said the increase in the number of contract staff in academic institutions is no accident.
“Hiring sessionals is mostly a cost cutting measure,” said Fuller. “They give universities flexibility in managing demand for courses and workload [and] allows the university to offload some of those risks around budget and around uncertainty in course scheduling onto the shoulders of the contract staff.”
Despite the CAUT study citing the number of sessional instructors in universities is rising in recent years, this has not been the case at UBC.
“The number of sessional faculty has declined steadily from 585 to 449 at UBC in 2017/18,” said UBC Vice-Provost and Associate VP Academic Affairs Eric Eich.
Instead, more faculty have begun to take lecturer positions, which offer longer contract terms and better overall wages. Eich stressed that the university continues to support its contract faculty.
“Sessional instructors are covered by the Collective Agreement between UBC and the UBC Faculty Association, [and] are able to access supports through the faculty association or their respective departments, and receive benefits through the Employee and Family Assistance Program,” said Eich.
Eligibility for medical benefits are dependent on whether or not a professor is at a 50 per cent or more appointment within their department.
The CAUT survey also highlighted unpaid work being done by contract staff, including the emotional labour that many female and racialized faculty endure.
Fuller said these increased hours are also likely due to fear of negative student evaluations — where there are known biases against women and people of colour — that could affect their tenuous employment status.
“There’s [a] higher impetus to put in a lot of work in order to have the outcome of student satisfaction,” said Fuller.
Many of these faculty are forced to seek additional work just to make ends meet.
“My teaching job as a professor isn’t what pays my bills. It isn’t what gives me my extended medical benefits that as a disabled woman, I absolutely need,” said Gagnon.
“I’ve had to have other employment [while lecturing].”
The result is even as universities take more efforts to make their campuses and staff more diverse, lecturers find themselves stuck on the lowest rung of the ladder and unable to advance.
“It may have been one of the worst career choices I made, to get a PhD,” said Gagnon. “And that’s in part because there is no opportunity for career advancement for someone like myself with the contract structure I have.”
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