By Julie Wolf
The consequences of the numerous hurdles for women entering science are sometimes metaphorically depicted as a “leaky pipeline.” This is the phenomenon in which fewer and fewer women are found as position rank increases – despite parity at the undergraduate levels in many scientific fields. A clear example of this is the fact that while half of chemistry bachelor degrees go to women, only a third of chemistry Ph.D. degrees are – and only a quarter move into assistant professor positions from there. The leaky pipeline phenomenon concerns many issues – from a less diverse pool of brainstormers to fewer available mentors for female students. Fortunately, the outlook is good in terms of addressing this disparity.
A new report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science suggests hiring trends may stem the loss of female faculty. The most surprising result came from a survey of 363 tenure-tracked faculty in evaluating imaginary male and female applicants for tenure-track professorships. Both genders showed a 2:1 preference for women in both math-intensive and math non-intensive fields (excepting economics). An important takeaway from this study is that despire current disparity, right now is excellent timing for women interested in academic science careers.
The consequences of the numerous hurdles for women entering science are sometimes metaphorically depicted as a “leaky pipeline.” This is the phenomenon in which fewer and fewer women are found as position rank increases – despite parity at the undergraduate levels in many scientific fields. A clear example of this is the fact that while half of chemistry bachelor degrees go to women, only a third of chemistry Ph.D. degrees are – and only a quarter move into assistant professor positions from there. The leaky pipeline phenomenon concerns many issues – from a less diverse pool of brainstormers to fewer available mentors for female students. Fortunately, the outlook is good in terms of addressing this disparity.
A new report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science suggests hiring trends may stem the loss of female faculty. The most surprising result came from a survey of 363 tenure-tracked faculty in evaluating imaginary male and female applicants for tenure-track professorships. Both genders showed a 2:1 preference for women in both math-intensive and math non-intensive fields (excepting economics). An important takeaway from this study is that despire current disparity, right now is excellent timing for women interested in academic science careers.
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