“I’m Not Afforded the Opportunity to Just Say No”: Exploring Superwoman Schema Among Black Women Tenure-Track Faculty

Using Superwoman Schema as a framework, we examined how Black women faculty navigated the tenure and promotion process through a mixed methodology, where we emphasize the qualitative part of data in more depth. Participants reported exceeding expectations in research, teaching, and service requirements to attain tenure and promotion at the expense of their well-being. While the larger survey data suggested that Black women faculty highly endorsed being a superwoman, in our qualitative data, we found differences in how Black women felt pressured to be “superwomen” across various academic ranks and institutional contexts. This study complicates the idea of the superwoman schema as a coping strategy, where opaque tenure and promotion requirements exacerbate the pressures that Black women may feel. We offer implications for Black women faculty as they navigate challenges within the academy.