Gabriel Yap ASA002 A02 Week 4

Gabriel Yap
ASA002 A02
Week 4

In one of the readings for this week, "Investigating Discrimination: Injustice against Women of Color in the Academy", the authors make a point that Asian American women face discrimination in the hiring process in academia. A study at the University of Southern California shows that they have a significantly lower tenure success rate than white men, which should be pretty obvious given common knowledge of our current society. However, Asian American women and Latina/Hispanic women were less successful than their Caucasian and African American counterparts.

What makes this especially a problem for Asian American women is the lack of recognition to this issue. As addressed in previous readings, Asian Americans are seen as the model minority. Being the model minority, they are expected to remain silent and except whatever is thrown at them. They are praised when they conform to society, and are ignored when they try to speak up.

Given that the study was conducted at USC, I can't say that I'm surprised. Many private colleges have a history of discrimination against Asian Americans, especially in the registration process. It surprised me how they faced discrimination even in the staff hiring process though. Now that I reflect on my life in school, I actually can see how this study is accurate. Of my three quarters in college, I've only had one Asian-American female teacher, which is my professor for this class. Prior to college, I've had two other Asian-American female teachers. I'm interested if I could draw the same conclusion about discrimination against Asian-American female teachers in grades K-12, or if there were other factors affecting my total amount of Asian-American female teachers I've had.

Source:
Valverde, K.-L. C., & Dariotis, W. M. (2020). Fight the tower: Asian American women scholars resistance and renewal in the academy. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Image from:

Baritonepats. “Baritonepats.” baritonepats_tumblr, 15 Jan. 2013, baritonepats.tumblr.com/post/40569539253/ucsdapsa-i-am-not-your-model-minority.