Most faculty caregivers strategize to avoid discrimination.

Balancing work and caregiving responsibilities challenges those who look after loved ones who are young, elderly or disabled. Most caregivers on campus minimize or hide their caregiving commitments in order to succeed professionally, developing bias avoidance strategies to head off discrimination problems before they occur.

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University in University Park conducted the first large-scale survey research on bias avoidance in higher education, and presented their findings in March at the College and University Work/Family Association (CUWFA) conference in Philadelphia. They were: Robert Drago, Carol Colbeck, Amy Varner, Kurt Burkum, Jennifer Fazioli, Gabriela Guzman and Dawn Stauffer.

Their survey sample came from 507 schools on the 2000 Carnegie list of U.S. colleges and universities. They chose faculty in chemistry and English for the gender imbalances in the two disciplines (women are about 20% of chemistry and 60% of English faculty) and their contrasting professional climates and expectations.

The survey is the first part of a research agenda examining how people combine work and family responsibilities. Carol Colbeck, director of Penn State's Center for the Study of Higher Education, told WIHE that two future qualitative studies will "bring the survey research to life."

Broad and narrow strategies

"Bias avoidance is largely invisible," they said. "Similar to sexual orientation, and in contrast to gender and race, we do not carry obvious physical markers of caregiving commitments." In designing their survey, the researchers identified two forms of bias avoidance: broad and narrow.

* Broad forms involve family formation issues. Examples are deciding to remain single or to have fewer children. "Bias avoidance in the broader sense occurs when caregiving commitments are sacrificed on the altar of work performance," they said.