Refletion to Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia

Sherry Yuan

ASA2 Blog post week2

Reflection to Women of Color in Academia Manifesto and Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia 

After I read Women of Color in Academia Manifesto and Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia wrote by Professor Valverde, I was shocked that women of color are tagged for presumed incompetent and expected to be unproductive. That disturbed me knowing that even when their performance is exceed, they are not guaranteed for equal pay, promotion, tenure, maintenance or equity. The article reminded me to look back on all the professors I have taken with in my four-year college and I realized that the article was right on the fact of disproportionate women-in-color faculty. I am a Managerial Economic major( business major) and I realized that I have had my most professors white guys, and then white women. I have had none female professors of color in my college life until my last quarter. This quarter, I signed up this Asian American Studies class and met my first female-Asian American professor. 

However, in the business world, I notice that women in color seem not to be treated as subordinated as them in academia. There are many successful female-colored managers whose performance is affirmed by the white people. Well, I have not stepped into the career world so I could be wrong. Perhaps those successful colored-Ameircan women could be co-opted tokens who go along with the oppressors and haven’t found out they themselves the targets of discrimination?





Image: Percentage of doctoral scientists and engineers employed in universities and 4-year colleges (S&E occupations) who are full professors, by race/ethnicity and gender(2008).