Is the identity penalty for men in identifying as a spousal hire less?
My impression is yes.
My advisor's husband wasn't a spousal hire, since she got hired before she finished her PhD and didn't have the negotiating leverage, so he basically managed to get grants to keep himself on as a postdoc, but everyone in her lab knew that if she started looking for a tenure-track job elsewhere, it would be contingent on a spousal hire for him. And he is a fine, fine researcher in his own right--his career just didn't take off in the same direction as hers.
I'm not sure it's the kind of thing men would mention at dinner parties, but there doesn't seem to be nearly as much academic stigma attached to being a male spousal hire--almost a kind of "my wife is SO AWESOME they made sure we both got jobs" pride, in a way? IDK. It would not surprise me at all if men are unlikely to view being a spousal hire as any reflection on their relative value as a researcher/teacher but rather a pragmatic thing that's good for their family, but if women might see it as a "oh, I'm not as good as my husband" thing that affects self-valuation.
I wonder if anyone's studied this? It would be reeeeeally interesting to get at self-perceptions of spousal hires, perceptions of the 'star' spouse, and perceptions of colleagues outside the couples.
But this is all impressions from a bit outside, and I may be wrong.
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Date: 2011-10-04 12:03 am (UTC)My impression is yes.
My advisor's husband wasn't a spousal hire, since she got hired before she finished her PhD and didn't have the negotiating leverage, so he basically managed to get grants to keep himself on as a postdoc, but everyone in her lab knew that if she started looking for a tenure-track job elsewhere, it would be contingent on a spousal hire for him. And he is a fine, fine researcher in his own right--his career just didn't take off in the same direction as hers.
I'm not sure it's the kind of thing men would mention at dinner parties, but there doesn't seem to be nearly as much academic stigma attached to being a male spousal hire--almost a kind of "my wife is SO AWESOME they made sure we both got jobs" pride, in a way? IDK. It would not surprise me at all if men are unlikely to view being a spousal hire as any reflection on their relative value as a researcher/teacher but rather a pragmatic thing that's good for their family, but if women might see it as a "oh, I'm not as good as my husband" thing that affects self-valuation.
I wonder if anyone's studied this? It would be reeeeeally interesting to get at self-perceptions of spousal hires, perceptions of the 'star' spouse, and perceptions of colleagues outside the couples.
But this is all impressions from a bit outside, and I may be wrong.