Present, Projections Nina Matheny Rwcher The American University, Washington, DC 20016 Margaret A. Cavanaugh Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, IN 46556 When the 20th centurv turned. women were winnine their struggle to gain admissibn to graduate education in science in the United States. By 1900,13 women had earned doctoral degrees in chemistry a t American universities, and by 1910 women could earn advanced degrees from almost all US. universities then granting them to men ( I ) . Finding employment opportunities proved to he a more difficult challenge than creating educational ones. When Rossiter, attempting . . to gather information on career patterns ut women scirntists in the early part ol'the rentury, umrrhwl the iirit threeeditions (l90fi.1910.1921) of Arnericur2 M o t olSrirnr r iAM.9. she found 65 women who could he classified as chemists or as home economists who had likelv been trained in chemistrv. Thev accounted for aooroximat"ely 3.5% of the chemists liked i~thosevolumes(2):~his fieure is in good ameement with the 1921 rolls of the American chemical society (ACS),which show that womenconstituted 3% of the membership a t that time (3, 4). Of the women identified, 78.5% hadearned the PhD and 70.8% were employed in academic institutions; 4.6% were known to be unemployed. In contrast, 65.5% of a sample of male chemists from the 1921 edition of AMS held the doctorate; 40% were employed in academe, 27% in industry, and 11% in government. Less than 1% were unemployed (2).Opportunities for women in governmental laboratories were limited and in industrial ones, virtually nonexistent. The main emolovers-and educators-of women scien. . tists in the early part of the century were women's colleges. At these institutions women also achieved the higher ranks. According to the entries in the 1921 edition of AMS, women'scolleaes accounted for half of the employment of women chemistsand two-thirds of the academic employment ( I ) . In 1922, the U S . Bureau of Education reported that 22 (10%) of the professors of chemistry were women and, of these, 18 were employed a t women's colleges (3). Rossiter's data from the 1938 edition of AMS and other sources show that the patterns established by 1920 persisted throueh 1940. At most. 2-5% of women chemists were ernployei by industry add 3.4% by the federal government during that period ( I ) .Academe remained the principal employer of women chemists, providing 72.8% of their jobs; women's colleees accounted for 55% of the academic positions ( 1 ) .In 1921, 9.7% (13) of the doctorates in chekistry were conferred upon women (3):during the period from 1920 to 1938, women ;arned 8.0% (487)of the doctorates in chemistry and biochemistry (I). During the '40's and '50's, women's share of the doctorates in science fell despite the fact that the numher of women obtaining advanced degrees continued to rise steadily. This
Presented, in part, at the 191st National Meeting of the American Chemical Societv. New York.. Aoril 13-18. 1986. , Unless otherwise indicated, recent st&tical information cited in this paper has been either taken directly or calculated from the data tables published in references 4. 5, and 6.
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was due to the very dramatic increase in the number of men obtaining degrees in science after World War 11. By the 1950's, women accounted for only 5.0% of the doctorates in chemistry (4).The effect can still he observed in demographic data for ACS memhers: women constitute 5% of chemists who hold doctorates and are over 50 years of age (4). During the last 10 years, the ACS has carried out comprehensive surveys of all its women members. Conducted in 1975,1980, and 1985, these surveys provide the best statistical information on women chemists available (4-6). . . I t is possible not only to understand the present status of women chemists hut also. since the results snan 10 vears. to heein to perceive trends that provide links io both t h e past and the future. Here, we describe the results of the most recent survey in some detail and place special emphasis on its implications for the future participation of women chemists in academe.' The 1985 ACS Comprehensive and Employment Status Survey had a target population of ACS memhers who had U S . mailing addresses, were not retiredor older than 70,and had neither student nor emeritus status. On Januarv. 31.. 1985, ACS memhers totalled 134,019, of whom 86,609 were elieible for inclusion in the survev. Anoroximatelv 14.5% of the May f985 deadthe targeted group were women (;1). B; line, 43,754 questionnaires had been returned with a response rate of 51.7% for women (6,403) and 49.3% for men (36,508). Recent Trends In the Entry of Women Into Chemistry The 1985 age and experience distributions for men and women chemists are remarkably different. The differences are greatest for BS chemists and reflect generally the increasing proportion of degrees granted to women in recent vears. The difference between women's and men's aee distrihution is a result of two factors: the decrease in the numher of men ohtainine chemistrv" deerees a t all levels over the last decade and an increase in the numher of women obtaining degrees at all levels. Among those whose highest degree is the bachelor's, 50% of the women were less than 30 vears old in 1985, whereas only 21% of the men were that yoing. One-fourth of the men were older than 55 compared to 6% of the women. This contrast continues for the advanced degrees. At the MS level, 20.6% of the women were less than 30 compared to 10% of the men. Thirtv-seven nercent of the women and 32% of the men were in their 30's,but only 10.9% of the women were over 55 compared to 24.2% of the men. Over a third (35.5%) of the women holding PhD's in chemistry were under 35, whereas only 19.7% of the men holding PhD's in chemistry were in that age group. For the last three decades, the numher of women earning degrees in chemistry has been rising steadily. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (7), in 1960 women earned 21.0% of the BS degrees, 16.5% of the MS degrees, and 4.6% of the PhD degrees. In 1975 the comparable figures were 22.4%, 20.7%, and 11.2%, respectively. The
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ACS Committee on Professional Training reports that in 1985 women earned 35.3% of the bachelor's degrees, 32.3% of the master's degrees, and 19.9% of the doctorates (8). In 25 years, the numher of chemists earning PhD's each year has increased 1.7 times, hut the numher for women has increased 7.5 times. The pattern for entry of students into advanced degree programs provides a basis for estimating the composition of new PhD's-and thus the workforce-in future years. One measure of entrv rate is the fraction of hachelor's degree recipients who go on to obtain the doctorate in chemistry. The numher of recipients of the PhD in chemistry is calculated as a percent of the numher of BS recipients five years earlier. In 1969-70,25% of men who had received the BS in 1964-65 earned the PhD; for women the comparable figure was 8.7%. In 1983-84, the number receiving the PhD as a nercentaee of the numher receivine" the BS five vears earlier was 17%for men and 10%for women. Another indication that women's increasing fraction of new PhD's is a trend that will continue comes from the ACS Starting Salarv Survevs (9).In 1980.63% of the men and 46% of the womenaho received bachelor's degrees in chemistry planned to continue their studies full-time. By 1985, only 51% of the male BS graduates planned to continue their studies full-time, whereas the percentage of BS women who planned to continue their studies full-time was basically unchanped. The trend among MS graduates is similar: a 13% decline amone men who ~lantoco&inuefull-time studv. hut only a 1.5% Zec~ineambng women from 1980 to 198k: AII availahle data suggest that an increasing fraction of PhD's will be earned by women and thus the trend begun in 1960 will continue. Women's share of chemical jobs should also continue its overall increase, hut the impact on each work sector-academic, industrial, governmental-may vary.
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Dlslributlon of Women Chemlsts by Type of Employer
During the first half of the century, academe was the main employer of women chemists and may have provided threeauarters or more of the positions for those with doctorates. Even by 1975 over half i 5 4 . 4 ~ of ) the PhD-holding women chemists who were employed full-time (FT) were employed by academic institntions. By 1980 this figure had dropped to 45% and hv 1985 even lower to 39%. suggesting a movement of doctorai women chemists out of academe has indeed begun. Throughout the 197E-85 interim, the percentage of F T PhD -~ male chemists emnloved in academe hovered near 33%. In 1985, for F T phi) Ehemists, 10.2% of the men were employed by government or nonprofit employers, compared to 15.2% 10 years earlier. The analogous figures for women were 13.1%in 1985 and 21.5% in 1975. This sector is declining in importance as an employer for hoth men and women chemists. hut the sliehtlv- faster rate of outward movement of women means that the difference in participation rate for men and women is narrowing. As a result of these substantial declines in participation in academe and in government/ nonprofit organizations the percentage of women employed in other areas has risen from 22.3% to 45% and is quickly approaching the 55% mark observed for men. The main increase in employment opportunities for PhD women chemists has occurred in industry. In 1975, 22% of the F T PhD women chemists were em~lovedin indnstrv. Bv 1980 the figure had risen to 28%, hut idthelast five year;, thk nercentaee has iumned to 36%. (Nnmericallv, 641 women Hnd 8573 men it the PhD level reported employment in orivate industrv in 1985. In 1980 only 373 women reported holding such positions; in 1975, 1 9 f ) Although t h e trend began perhaps 15years ago, in the last five years PhD women have chosen industry over academe two to one, that is, in the same proportion long found for male chemists. If this trend continues, the percentage of doctoral women chemists employed in academe can he expected to decline nntilit reaches ~~
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Journal of Chemical Education
the men's value of 33%. Since women's share of new PhD's promises to continue its rise, similar distributions for doctoral men and women in the workplace could easily occur prior to the turn of the 21st century. The incentive for joining the industrial workplace has likely been that starting and continuing salaries for women in industry have been competitive with those for men during the last five years (4). Changes in academic hiring policies have led to a smaller proportion of availahle positions in the professorialranks: the percentage of hoth men and women in instructor positions has doubled since 1980 (4). Academic institutions are also employing more BS and MS chemists. In 1985. 5% of BS chemists and 15% of MS chemists were employed in academe; in 1980, the figures were 3% a t the BS level and 10%at the MS level. Recent Trends In Entry of Women into Academlc Positions
The distributions by experience level of F T PhD women holding professorial rank in 1980 and 1985 can be compared. Five (15.2%) fewer members appear in the most recently hired (5-9 years since BS) cohort in 1985 than were in that -eroun. in 1980.. desuite . a substantial increase in the numher of women PhD graduates availahle for hire. During the same 5-year period, declines of 23% were ohsenred in experience groups that correspond to approximately 5 years and 10 years since the doctorate was earned. The effect can he seen as a "crossover" between the two experience distributions occurring 10-15 years ago, and the 1985 data confirm the trend: the influx of younger women PhD's into the professorial ranks has indeed crested. The numher of male PhD's entering the professorial ranks has in fact declined somewhat in recent years. Despite their lower numbers in 1985, women in the 5-9-years-since-BS group constitute a higher percentage of their experience eroun. .. increasine" to 13.5% from an estimated 12.5% in 1980. In contrast, the percentage of women in the 20-24-yearssince-BS c o h o r t a t the leading edge of the "crest" of women in the professorial ranks-rose from 5.5% in 1980 to 9.6% in 1985. The reduced entrv of women chemists into academe will likely result in a "leveling-off" of the percentage of women entering the upper ranks a t about 16%, that is, at about the value now observed for the 10-14-years-since-BS group, even though the percentage of women among PhD graduates has already risen above that level. The percentage of women among faculty holding professorial rank a t BS-, MS., and PhD-granting institutions is displayed by experience group in Figure 1. For each of these types of institutions, the "leveling-off" of the percentage of
Psrcsnt Holdmg Rank 26% 1
6
10
74
18
22
26
30
34
38
Years Since BS
* Bs lnstit,ution
+
MS Institution
-4
PhO insttuton
Figure 1. Women holding professorial rank at BS ( 0 ) .MS (+), and PhD ( A ) institutions in 1985 as percent of experience group.
instructors with comparahle experience. For research associates, the gap has closed somewhat. There has also been a significant increase in PhD women emnloved oart-time in the last five vears-from 4.2% to 5.9%. ~ h o & two-thirds of them have fbund part-time work in academe. Of all part-time women chemists, no matter the degree level, 57% are employed in academe; part-time workers constitute 5% of all women chemists. Most often, they workmore than half time and are between the ages of 25 and 45. A fourth of them sav they prefer part-time work, and a third report that they are working part-time due to family constraints. Of all PhD women chemists in 1985,73.6% have Present Status of Women Chemists In Academebeen or are married. Promotion, Tenure, Salary The 1985 survey also polled activities and attitudes of have been anticinated due to academic chemists. As mieht Although the numbers are small and statistical rules no " their low representation in PhD-granting institutions, womlonger rigorously apply, some conclusions can he drawn en generally spend more time in teaching and less time in about the status of women chemists in academe. I t anpears that women faculty members hired in the last 1 0 y e a r s a i ~ ~ - research and administration than men. Seventy-two percent of women reported spending half or more of their time in erantine" institutions have been advanced to associate and teaching, compared to 62% of the men. Academic women are full professor ranks in the same proportions as their male somewhat more dissatisfied with their salaries than men, hut colleaeues. At PhD-erantine- institutions, however, slower are particularly dissatisfied with job security and advancepromotion rates for women are observed as early as five ment opportunities. Twenty-four percent of the women years after hire. Similarly, differences between the sexes in compared to 12% of the men feel their job is very or sometenure rate are not significant a t BS- or MS-granting instituwhat insecure. Those earliest in their careers are most likely tions, hut a t PhD-granting . .institutions, women still lag beto feel that their job is insecure; married men sense the most hind men in tenure rate, even when sorted by experience job security. Overall, 24% of academic women compared to level. Detailed information on women on faculties of PhDgranting institutions shows that i t is more likely for unmar16% of men nerceive their onnortunitv for nrofessional ad.. vancement to be low. Even women early in their careers are ried than for married women to he tenured, though the oessimistic about their o~oortunities as chemists in acadifferences are becomine less noticeable (4). .. Differences in advancement persist fo; women at higher heme (11). exoerience levels. For examole. . . a t BS institutions. 61% of male faculty members with 20-24 years of experience are nrofessors comoared to 38% of the women in that same Effect of the Aging Professoriate on Women's Future grouping. or those with similar experience at PhD-granting Participation In Academe institutions, 70% of the men are professors compared to 33% To project the composition of the chemical work force in of the women. Since women are dot represented-in the senior the vear 2000. it is necessarv to consider both those who will experience .groups, aanting institutions or the . higher degree . . leave and those who will enier the workplace. For employed upper ranks to thr snme extent as men, it is not surprising chemists in 1985. 18.1%of the women were over 50 ward of that overull salaries for P h n women in academe wrre rrcentage compared to 32.7% of the men. Although the percentage ly reported to be 87% of men's (10). differences are revealing, the numerical differences illusWhen salary comparisons are made for matched samples trate even more dramatically the significant changes that of men and women faculty members, that is, those with the will occm over the next decade. Of the survey respondents same terminal degree, rank, and experience level a t the same holding the PhD, 6,661 men and 405 women were over 50 type of institution, women's salaries continue to lag, but not yearsof agecompared to 4029 men and 793 women under age so markedly. At BS- and MS-granting institutions, there is 35. At the BS level there were 228 women and 2999 men over eenerallv a 2-3% discrepanw. . - hut a t PhD-manting instituthe age of 50 in the work force, hut 1823 and 1173 women t ions, r here is a 10%margin for most aswciare professors and under the aee of 30. If the trends amone those enterine the for full orofeisors 20 vears past their HS decree. For women work forcr during the last lOyeurscontinue, the ratiuof men hired since 1975, salaries i r e generally more competitive h, u,omen emolo~ed . . in chemistrv in IS vears will be decidedwith men's at all types of institutions. ly different. Consistent with the recent decline in the number of posiThis increase in the oercentaee of women chemists will tions at the professorial ranks, the 1985 survey found 26.4% occur during the same period t h i t a personnel crisis is preof PhD women chemists employed in academe were instrucdicted for the scientific workforce. Several recent studies tors or research associates, up from 20.8% in 1980. Eleven have focussed on the aging of scientific and engineering nercent of the academic men renorted holdine similar nosifaculty and the problems anticipated in the coming decades. ;ions in 1985.3 Salaries for instr;ctors have n i t risen as fast While all agree that a crisis will arrive, the reports do not as salaries for the orofessorial ranks. In particular. salaries concur on the stage a t which it will become most acute. for entry-level female instructors (10-i4 years since BS) In mid-1984, a panel was set up within the White House have lagged; these women now earn 20% less than male Science Council to begin a study of the health of the universities. The Council was asked to determine whether American colleges and universities would he able to produce the "scientific and technical talent required for preeminence in The 1985 Survey of Women on Faculties of PhD-Granting lnstituan age of rapid technological change and intense internations, based on the Directory of Graduate Research and conducted by tional com~etition".The panel's reoort. entitled "Health of the ACS Women Chemists Committee, shows the total number of U S . Colleges and universities", wainedthat the nation canwomen faculty members unchanged and the number of assistant not take its continued superioritvfor . -granted andurped that professors lower than in 1983. shortages of science and engineering faculty memhers he Postdoctoral positions are not included in statistics regarding corrected. The reoort stated that the orohlems are already academic positions. In the past five years, posMoctoral employment t y growing serious ~ L W R I I S Prnginrrring and irirncc f a r ~ ~ larr declined slightly for women from 8.4% to 7.0% of all FT employold. It citedasan example New York's Polytechnic L'niversiment. Of FT PhD men, 3.0% held postdoctoral positions in 1985. women entering the faculty during the last 5 years can be observed. Assuming the continuation of present trends, PhD-granting institutions can expect to greet the year 2000 with women constitutine 8% of their nrofessorial ranks. while BS- and ~ s - ~ r a n t institutions kg h a y see 18%. ~ o t d that, as in the early part of the century, the higher the degree granted by an institution, the lower the percentage of women employed in its professorial ranks. Overall in 1985, 18% of faculty at institutions granting associate degrees were women: the analoeous for BS-, MS-, and PhD-prant- oercentaees . ing institutions, respectiveiy, were 13:5%, 9%, and 6%.2
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Number 10 October 1987
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ty, where 52%of the faculty are expected toleave the campus in the coming decade. This contrasts with the projections made by the National Research Council in 1979. The model developed in Forecasting Demand for University Scientists and Engineers (12) suggested that a weak academic market for science and engineering PhD's would persist from the early 1980's to the early 1990's followed by sustained growth through the year 2000. Nevertheless, they projected a growth in new hires in the sciences between 1980 and 1988 because a high nontenure "quit rate" had been built into the model. Ultimatelv. .. the success of each model used in makine projrcriuns hingeson the iuital)ility of itsasswnpriuns about the vurnmcters nffwtinc! the demand for facultv. l'hew naramkters include retirement rates, tenure and promoGon rates, voluntary "quit rates", faculty-student ratios, and so on. Although a multitude of influences and implicit assumptions have an impact on each parameter, most models assumeagrmf deai,,f rigidity ill the hehaviorof thew pnrameters. "Demogmphic'l'rendsand the Scientificand Engineerinc Work Furce."a technical memornnd~~m nuhlished hv the office of Technology Assessment in ~ e c e k h e r1985 713), contains an excellent review of all of the recent forecasts and the reasons for differences in the projection results. A maior difficultv in forecastine facultv needs is the lack of accur&e and consistent data t h i t can heused to initiate or test proiections. No central agency tabulates new hires bv field-in-colleges and universi%es and the majority of thk sampling studies do not differentiate between tenure- and nonknure-track positions. Data from ACS surveys present similar difficulties. For example, ACS statistics include both chemists and biochemists and do not distinguish by department. In 1980 the medical/professional school and PhDerantine " institution data were comhined. whereas in 1985 they were reported separately. In 1980 data were separated for state and private institutions. whereas in 1985 thev were combined. The overall age distribution of PhD chemists in academe in 1985 is displaied in Figure 2. In 1985 the ACS surveyed a sufficiently large numher of academic scientists so that for the first time &a might he grouped by type of institution, tenure status, age, and rank and statistically valid results obtained. Those results can he used to test some of the projections. For instance, the National Research Council report on "Research Excellence" (14)said that in 1977 the age distribution of F T chemistrv facultv was 8.0% over ace 60: 8.0%. ages 56-60; and 8.5%, age 51-55. ~ h e ~ e m a foru~ni"ersity nd Scientists (12)antici~atedthat in 1985.68.5% of the facultv in the physical sciences would be ten&ed and the media; biological age would he 51.8 for tenured faculty and 35.4 for nontenured faculty. The ACS data indicate changes in the last five years have been much greater than predicted by any of these models. In the period from 1980 to 1985, the percentage of academic PhD chemists holding the rank of assistant professor dropped from 16% to 14% for men and from 33% to 23% for women. Meanwhile, the percentage holding the rank of instructor increased from 2%to 4%for men and from 6%to 12% for women. The statistics are dominated by findings in PhD-granting and professional institutions, which in 1985employed 58%of the men and 48% of the women chemists in higher education. For faculty in PhD-granting institutions, 11.4% were over age 60, with an additional 10.3% age 55 to 59, and 15.0%age 50 to 54. The median age overall was approximately 47 years. Almost one-fourth of the assistant professors indicated they were more than 15 years beyond their hachelor's degree. Twenty-one percent of the faculty a t the assistant, assocTate, and full professor ranks did not hold tenure in these institutions. Of that numher only 75% were assistant professors.
Number 300
at Respondents
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Journal of Chemical Education
Age Men
women
Figure 2. Age distribution of academic PhD chemists in 1985.
Forty-six individuals held the rank of professor and generally were more than 25 years beyond their bachelor's degree. Sixteen oercent of the men and 50% of the women were in nonfacnity positions a t PhD-granting and professional instltutions: in 1980. onlv 8% of the men and 30% of the women were in such positions in these school.. In rhe master's-depree-zranti~izinstitut~ons. . onlv . 6.4": of the faculty were o\,er 60, hut 1 0 . ~ were ~ 0 between 55 and 59 nnd 1G.W between 50 and i4. T.ess than one-fourth (!:l.:'b) of the faculty were under 40. Moreover, 83.8% of the 677 reporting faculty were tenured and among the untenured faculty, 20% held the rank of professor or associate professor and typically had more than 25 years experience since their bachelor's decree. In the baccalaureate institutions, only 4.5% of the faculty were over 60 and 8.4% aee 55-59. but 14.5% were ape 50-54. There were 1299 responbents t o t h e survey, 29.3%of whom were under the ace of 40. In these institutions. 75% of the faculty were tenured with 35% of the nonten"red faculty holding the ranks of professor or associate professor. Among the assistant professors, 14% were tenured and 36% were more than 15 years heyond their baccalaureate degree^.^ Clearly, chemists in academe are more highly concentrated in the upper age brackets than predicted hv available demographic mod&. Those in the a&tant-professor rank are surprisingly more experienced than might have been expected, presumably due to low hiring rates for new PhD's andlor high "quit rates". Also, the numher of nonfaculty hires have increased,particularly in PhD-grantinglprofessional institutions. Thus, the age distribution has become skewed toward higher age groups as the numher of new faculty hires has not kept pace with past hiring rates. Using the extremely unlikely assumptions of no deaths or retirements before age 70, no "quits" or tenure-denials for those presently on staff, and no change in the total number of faculty members, PhD-granting institutions can expect to replace 21.7% of their chemistry faculty by the year 2000. This is obviously a minimal estimate and more realistic assumptions could more than double the value. Using the
'Respondents to the 1985 survey who were employed as high school teachers are only a small sample of the high school teachers in chemistry, so their statistical description is probably unrepresentative of high school chemistry teachers in general. Of the 384 teachers responding, 3.7% were over 60, 6.8% were between 55 and 59, 11.5% were between 50 and 54. and 36% were under 40. Twentyfour percent had doctorates and an additional 58% had master's degrees.
same assumptions, MS-granting institutions will need to replace a t aminimum 16.9%of their faculty andBS-granting institutions, 12.9%. In 1984, the National Science Foundation estimated that 18,821 chemists were employed in U.S. academic institutions (15).If the current rate of 1800 new PhD's in chemistry each year is maintained, 27,000 new PbD's will eraduate in the next 15 vears. If all choose employment in chemistry andlone-third choose academic emr)losment as in the oast.the9000Phl)'sa\,ailable will beonlv just enough to mkch'more realistic need estimates. hi promised "crisis" will surely come before the turn of the century, and PhD-granting institutions will be affected hardest and earliest. thr new I'hD's in chemistry during thin periSincef0'52 ud are likely to be women, and only 8.6%of the PhD faculty over 55 (assumed to be retiring in t h e above discussion) are women, women stand to increase their overall proportion among PhD's in academe from the current 10.9%to 13.5% on this basis alone. If more hires are made or if women go into academe in hieher nroaortions than men. the overall increase could b e mueh The greatest change may he expected in PhD-granting institutions, which will likely show substantial increases in the percentage of women they hire to reulace their manv. aeine facultv members. If this does occu;, then in 15 years women mayconstitute a higher percentage of professorial ranks a t PhD-granting institutions than the 8% predicted by simple continuation of present trends. v
salary, promotion, or tenure. Proportionately more women chemists emuloved in academe are instructors or research associates or-in part-time positions than just five years ago, however. Job securitv and ouuortunities for orofessional advancement have hecome major issues for woken in the closing years of the 20th century. Those issues may reach resolution during a period of crisis for academic institutions, particularly PhD-granting institutions, which will attempt to maintain and build their faculties in a time of intense competition. Women chemists could thus begin to move toward an employment distribution in academic~institutionsand in professorial ranks that matches their male counterparts. Only the percentage of women obtaining the doctorate would then limit opportunities for women chemists in academe. Acknowledgment The authors are grateful to the staff of the ACS Office of Statistical Services, especially S. Tun, for tabulation of data and to D. M. Feigl for editorial advice. Literature Cited
u
Summary Over the century, the number of women ohtaining degrees in chemistry has increased and many indicators suggest that the trend will continue. The percentage of women obtaining BS, MS, and PhD degrees in chemistry is also expected to continue to rise. Doctoral women chemists are beginning to be distributed in governmental, academic, and industrial workplaces in t h e s a m e as men. By the year 2000, women will likely choose their work seetor based on market availability alone. In academe, those women who are hired with professorial rank should experience little discrimination with respect to
women In Chamisfry:A
~, -, ~ - -
SfudyolPloles~ionolOppoilunifies. Studies inoccupations, Number Four; Bureau of Vocational Information: New Yark,1922. 4. "Women ChemiaU 1985, A Supplementary Rewrt to the Arncrleen Chemical Saeiety's 1985 Survey of Membem Salary and Employment"; ACS: Washington. DC. 1986. 5. '"1975 Report of Chemist$' Salaries and Employment Sfstus, Supplement an fhe Economle Status of Women in the ACS";ACS: Washington, DC, 1976. 6. "Women Chemisfs 1980ASupplementol Regort on the American Chemical Society's 1980 Survey of Salaries and Employment': ACS: Washington, DC. 1981. 7. National Center for Educational Statistics, EornedDegmer Conferred series. 8. Chem. E n s Nems 1986,64(20),43. 9. "Starting Salarieaof Chemisfssnd Chemical Engineers":ACS:Washington, DC, 1880 and 1986 editinnr.
3.
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VntN n d .Acnar,nv B'n.hmdl.mn. llC 193: I? OKrr I I:< nm I W , *ii.iimen, "Dcmnaraphlr Trcnd.md theswn,,ficandEnp,. nccrtng Work P o r n A T < hnslal h l e m n r a ~ d u m'. Ll S Cnnpres B ' n s h ~ n r t ~ lDC n.
Stati9ticd Tabled; NSF 85-316:Washington. DC; 1985
Volume 64 Number 10 October 1987
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