Chapter 17: Mentoring as a Social Justice Equalizer in Higher Education for Women

While mentoring has been studied between mentors and protégées in the K–12 setting, by comparison, less is known about mentoring in higher education. Hall and Sandler (1984) established the presence of a “chilly” patriarchal climate in higher education for women, but few studies have followed that demonstrate how mentoring has been used to promote individuals, particularly women, in the higher education setting to make practice more equitable and inclusive. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to challenge commonsense assumptions about mentoring and to revision the practice to one that is an inclusive, social justice equalizer for women in higher education. This work is distinct because it frames social justice and mentoring in action-oriented strategies and is situated in a mentoring relationship that has existed for almost 10 years in the higher education setting between two women: a mentor and protégée.