Using a data set with over four thousand doctoral students in programs across the U.S., we find that systematic disadvantage does exist in ways that confirm and extend the literature on mentorship in graduate school. Examining how race and gender operate in tandem, we find evidence that systematic disadvantage is concentrated among women of color. In other words, it is the intersecting effects of race and gender, rather than minority or gender status alone, that are driving perceptions of less advisor support. Women of color report having less respectful and sometimes less instrumental primary advisors than all other groups. It is important to note that these findings do not simply reflect an additive effect of double disadvantage. Rather these findings demonstrate the interactive and multiplicative effects of race and gender. Our findings speak to a “mentoring glass ceiling” where women of color are provided with certain forms of support, but lack important interpersonal components of mentorship that makes relations with faculty rewarding and productive for their future successes as faculty members.
Our recommendations center on changing the organizational culture of departments so hat students of color can experience the same respectful and instrumental interactions that many of their white colleagues are privy to. University and departmental workshops that address diversity, multiculturalism, and positive interpersonal communication should be institutionally incorporated. Universities need seminars for faculty at the beginning of the academic year on how various mentoring styles conform to the expectations of women, students of color, and women of color. This dialogue may increase faculty’s sensitivity to how their interpersonal relations with students are perceived. Representation is only part of addressing diversity and multiculturalism. Understanding and appreciation is the other half.