Pathways to Success: Black Women's Perspectives on Successfully Completing Doctoral Education

Background and Purpose:  The increase of Black women enrolling in doctoral education programs and earning doctoral degrees is well documented. However, there is limited research on Black women’s experiences in these programs. Schools of social work have been informed of their need to recruit and retain faculty of color. In the 2014-2015 academic year Blacks made up less than 16% of faculty in social work, newly enrolled students and graduates from social work Ph.D. programs.

This paper helps to fill this gap by examining the experiences of Black women who have earned their doctorate degree in social work, and factors that their attribute to their success in completing their degree.

Methods: Twenty in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with women who self-identified as Black (ages 24 to 59) who spent between five and twelve years working on their doctorate degree. All participants were first generational doctoral students.  Participants were recruited via a recruitment flyer to emails to social work organizations and social media platforms. Interviews elicited participants’ perspectives on what influenced them to pursue a Ph.D. in social work, barriers they encountered while pursuing their doctorate, and factors that facilitated their success in obtaining their doctorate degree. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded manually, using first and second cycle coding, and development of themes guided by the principles of an inductive approach to qualitative analysis.

Findings: Data analysis revealed the factors that motivated participants to earn their doctorates which included influence of family, friends, and mentors as well as their desire to help others.  Findings also revealed that participants encountered several internal and external obstacles during their studies. While these obstacles delayed many of the women, they did not stop them. The women perceived these obstacles to be connected to their race, gender, and class.  All the women prevailed against the obstacles they encountered utilizing internal supports such as their faith and determination. They also relied on external supports from those with whom they had interpersonal relationships, including family, friends, and their institutions. These findings suggest that having support from their institution and encouragement from their family and friends served as a protective factor to the obstacles they encountered. These findings also outline the dichotomy of finances in this study. Overall 90% of participants received some type of funding for their education, however all accumulated financial debt in pursuit of their doctorate.  

Conclusion and Implications: This study’s findings indicate that barriers to doctoral degree completion continue to exist for Black women and that these barriers are often associated with racism, classism, and sexism. Although efforts are certainly needed to push the continued social change to eliminate these attitudinal and institutional barriers, this study yielded findings that might be useful in crafting strategies to assist Black women in overcoming these barriers. Starting with mentorship training for social work faculty. Next, reflecting and addressing issues of institutional racism within social work education and acting. Lastly, comprehensive financial aid assistance.