Sex Differences in Faculty Tenure and Promotion: The Contribution of Family Ties

This study uses data from the 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty to examine the ways in which parental status, marital status, and employment status of the spouse are related to two outcomes, tenure and promotion, among college and university faculty. The analyses are guided by a conceptual model that draws upon the economic theory of human capital and sociological notions of structural capital, social capital, and social networks. Descriptive and multinomial logit analyses are used to address the research questions. The analyses reveal that the contribution of family ties to tenure status and academic rank is different for women than for men.