Some 28% of women working for colleges believe they have been passed over for a promotion because of their gender, according to new survey data from Gallup. Hispanic and Asian women were more likely to say they missed an opportunity for career advancement due to gender than others, with 33% and 30% saying they thought they'd been passed over, respectively.

A lower share of women also reported they were being paid fairly for their work than men. Only 35% of women agreed or strongly agreed they were paid fairly, versus 47% of men.

The new Gallup data comes at a time of high concern about whether higher ed treats women employees fairly and gives them adequate opportunities to advance in their careers.

Scholars have been debating evidence indicating the pandemic disproportionately hurt women researchers' publishing productivity — a key concern because of the academy's "publish or perish" culture. Concerns have also been raised since women are underrepresented in authority positions in the higher education sector.

Women make up 44% of tenure-track faculty but only 36% of full professors, according to the American Association of University Women. Only a third of college presidents are women, according to the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, and just 22% of presidencies at the 130 universities with the highest research activity are women, the Women's Power Gap Initiative said. Slightly more than a third of college governing board members are women, the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges has found.

Some women are attributing lack of promotions to their gender, according to Gallup's new survey, which covers higher ed staff as well as faculty. Often, it's because they are becoming more aware of the issue, according to Stephanie Marken, executive director of education research at Gallup and the researcher behind the new survey.

Read the full article about women working in higher education by Laura Spitalniak at Higher Education Dive.