Women's Ways of Making It in Rhetoric and Composition

by Michelle Ballif, D. Diane Davis, Roxanne Mountford

This volume explores how women in the fields of rhetoric and composition have succeeded, despite the challenges inherent in the circumstances of their work. Focusing on those women generally viewed as "successful" in rhetoric and composition, this volume relates their stories of successes (and failures) to serve as models for other women in the profession who aspire to "make it," to succeed as women academics in a sea of gender and disciplinary bias and to have a life, as well. Building on the gains made by several generations of rhetoric and composition scholars, this volume provides strategies for a newer generation of scholars entering the field and, in so doing, broadens the support base for women in the field by connecting them with a greater web of women in the profession. Offering frank discussion of professional and personal struggles as well as providing reference materials addressing these concerns, solid career advice, and inspirational narratives told by women who have "made it" in the field of rhetoric and composition, this work highlights such common concerns The profiles of individual successful women describe each woman’s methods for success, examine the price each has paid for that success, and pass along the advice each has to offer other women who are beginning a career in the field or attempting to jumpstart an existing career. With resources and general advice for women in the field of rhetoric and composition to guide them through their careers―as they become, survive, and thrive as professionals in the discipline – this book is must-have reading for every woman making her career in the rhetoric and composition fields.

352 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2007

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

The genre of academic advice book is by nature problematic. On one hand, you have to be a fear monger: the field is so difficult, there's no respect, there's no room for advancement. On the other hand, you need to give solutions: if you just work twelve hours a day, get the best position you can, advocate for younger women. It's a hard line to balance and several times throughout Women's Ways of Making it, I found myself panicking about my chosen career and other times I found myself smug and cynical about the genre. After all, the women who made it made is thirty years ago and the field, in general and for women in specific, has changed.

Notes:
find a mentor early in your graduate career (23)
qtd olson "comparing your own work with that of the most seasoned luminaries in the field is perhaps the most serious mistake any being scholar can make" (39, and somewhat ironic)
Send off your manuscript and then forget about it, focusing on another manuscript (41)
some reviewer comments you accept, some you disagree with and why and some you could take, but for some reason can't at this stage (43)
When you transfer to professorhood, keep a savings bank of confidence: nice notes from studies, letters of recommendation, good reviews (85).
When you write about your publications, describe them eg "a flagship journal with an acceptance rate of 5%" (87)
for tenure, document everything and publish (qtd 93)
Protect your writing time: hide (qtd 147)
Set out your own standards for success and meet them (153)
16% would not choose academic rhet/comp again (161)
Time and emotion should be spent on what you think matters, not what the institution does (170)
Family writing time with the kiddos (183)
Nothing in academic life can force you to forgo your ethics, even if you stand out (194)


Notes from lecture:
Stay the same--
Queen bees are still there
Publish your critics under the table.
Change--
preliminary skype interviews, not MLA, means the time table changes, job offers early
set up teleprompter for Skype interview with notes--practice it
maybe men are stepping it up a little more than in the 70s

If it's not a lifestyle change, you won't do it.
1-Writing into your calendar --keep your toe always in it (ddd does very specific tasks --eg read the intro of..)
2-Stay in touch with what's coming out in the field: check out at least the titles of journals in the field
3-Regular practice of turning conferences into articles. Key conference presentations into journal gap
4-Having a life--schedule it into your calendar

Saying no is crucial for women: try not to do the invisible work "what I will do is..." It cannot always be you. Create a quota (e.g. 3 times a year say yes).

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too bad there's no image here--at least two people I know are on the cover! Intriguing book--great advice early on for grad students and getting in to conferences, etc. The overall message, though, is depressing: basically, if you want to "make it," work long, hard hours every day, and, if you can, don't have kids. Also, embedded is implication that you might end up divorced. So it was rather depressing, despite the authors' attempts to provide insight into things like work-life balance. Best advice here, though, which I'd already read/heard elsewhere but bears repeating: 1) write often and regularly, not in binge sessions, and 2) submit stuff before you think it's perfect, because otherwise you'll never, ever publish. But as for the work-life "balance" "advice," I think I'll stick with what I'm doing already, and if that means I don't "make it" in rhet-comp, well, so be it.