EDUCATION
WOMEN FACULTY GAIN LITTLE GROUND C&EN's ANNUAL SURVEY shows that women top out at 25% of chemistry faculty at only two of top 50 schools CORINNE A. MARASCO, C&EN WASHINGTON
DESPITE AN INCREASE in the number who choose careers in science and engineering, women continue to be significantly underrepresented among university chemistry faculty. For the seventh year in a row that C&EN has examined this topic, the number of women among full professors and among chemistry faculty as a whole remains low. Nevertheless, the data do reveal slow progress between the 2000-01 and 2006-07 academic years. C&EN surveyed schools identified by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as having spent the most money on total and federally funded research in chemistry during fiscal-year 2004, the latest year for which data are available (www. nsf.gov/statistics/nsf06323). The schools were contacted by e-mail and telephone and were asked to provide the number of male and female tenured and tenure-track faculty holding full, associate, and assistant professorships with at least 50% of their salaries paid by the chemistry department in the 2006-07 academic year. These numbers exclude emeritus professors, instructors, and lecturers, as well as any faculty and endowed professors whose salaries are not paid by the chemistry department. The response rate was 100%. In academic year 2006-07, women represent 14% of the total chemistry faculty members at the top 50 institutions. Although this number is low, it represents a slight improvement compared with data from prior years: 13% in 2005-06 (C&EN, Oct. 31,2005, page 38), 12% in 2004-05 (C&EN, Sept. 27,2004, page 32), and 12% in 2003-04 (C&EN, Oct. 27,2003, page 58). The first time C&EN carried out this survey, 2000-01, women made up just 10% (C&EN, Oct. 1,2001, page 98). In absolute terms, the total number of faculty positions increased from 1,633 l a s t Y e a r t01*672, and the total number of positions filled by women increased from 213 to 226. The makeup of the list of top 50 schools varies little from year to year. The Univer-
fessor, economists Donna K. Ginther of the University of Kansas and Shulamit Kahn of Boston University recently examined how gender differences affect the likelihood of obtaining a tenure-track job, promotion to tenure, and promotion to full professor in the life sciences, physical sciences, and engineering. Ginther and Kahn approached the question by analyzing data from NSF's 1973-2001 Survey of Doctorate Recipients. They presented their findings in a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, titled "Does Science Promote Women? Evidence from Academia 1973-2001" (www.nber.org/~sewp/ Ginther_Kahn_revised8-06.pdf). In brief, Ginther and Kahn conclude that women are less likely than men to hold tenure-track positions in science and that the gap is entirely explained by the decision to have children. Furthermore, the authors
sity of California, San Francisco, which has been ranked first on the NSF list since 2000 in terms of spending on chemical research, maintains its number one position this year. Schools added to the list in 2006 are the University of Chicago and the University of Virginia. Schools that were on the list in 2005 but dropped off in 2006 are the University of Oklahoma and Emory University. Together, those schools had five female chemistry facultySLOW GROWTH members, whereas the schools that Just 14% of chemistry professors replaced them have four. at top 50 universities are women Among the schools that have the highest proportion of women in the 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 total faculty, Rutgers University and All ranks 10% 11% 12% 12% 12% 13% 14% 7 7 8 8 9 10 Full 6 the University of California, Los Ange22 20 20 19 21 21 20 Associate les, are tied for first place, with women 21 21 21 20 21 20 Assistant 18 accounting for 25% of the chemistry faculty this year. There is a three-way NOTE: The top 50 are schools identified by the National Science Foundation as having spent the most money on total and tie for second among Massachusetts federally funded research in chemistry. Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania SOURCE: C&EN annual surveys State University, and Purdue University, where women make up 21% of the report no gender difference in promotion faculty. In third place is the University of to tenure or fall professor after controlling Arizona, where women make up 20% of the for factors such as demographics and emfaculty. ployer characteristics. They also found that family characteristics have different effects At the other end of the spectrum, all of on the likelihood of promotion for men and the institutions on the list this year have women: "Children make it less likely that more than one woman on faculty. But six of women in science will advance up the acathe top 50 have no women full professors. demic job ladder beyond their early postWomen continue to be concentrated in doctorate years," whereas both marriage the assistant and associate professor ranks. and children are positively correlated with This academic year, women make up 21% of men's likelihood of advancing. The results assistant professors, the same as last year. back the conventional wisdom that women Women's representation among associate often must choose between a family and an professors is 22%, up from last year's 21%. academic career. Women increased their share among full Other studies have found that women professors this year, to 10% from 9% last with young children spend less time in the year. Looking back to the 2000 baseline, lab than their male counterparts do, prethe proportion of women full professors sumably because they shoulder the responhas increased at a glacial pace, as has their sibilities of child care. Also, the model of share of total faculty. The proportion of academia as the most desirable place for a women in the associate and assistant proresearch career may lead to a mismatch befessor ranks has varied little over the years, tween expectations and outcomes, leading hovering near 21% in recent years. women to seek nonacademic careers that In an effort to pin down the reason that are family-friendly. • women aren't making the leap to full proWWW.CEN-0NLINE.ORG
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WOMEN IN ACADEMIA Ame>ng the top 50 universities, women held the greatest share of chemistry professorships at Rutgers University and UCLA FULL PROFESSOR TOTAL
WOMEN
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR %
TOTAL
WOMEN
%
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR TOTAL WOMEN %
ALL FACULTY TOTAL
WOMEN
%
2 7 11 8 8
0 1 4 0 4
0% 14 36 0 50
18 30 42 50 37
2 6 7 6 5
11% 20 17 12 14
14 0 100 50 33
5 16 5 3 4
3 1 1 1 0
60 6 20 33 0
40 46 18 27 . 21
10 5 2 4 2
25 11 11 15 10
1 0 3 4 3
50 0 33 33 30
8 6 6 10 10
1 0 1 2 1
13 0 17 20 10
35 40 31 53 35
6 2 5 8 6
17 5 16 15 17
9 1 4 5 2
0 0 1 2 0
0 0 25 40 0
7 3 6 9 4
2 0 1 0 2
29 0 17 0 50
38 22 38 30 19
3 2 6 2 2
8 9 16 7
5 22 0 16 5
7 10 10 5 8
2 1 2 1 2
29 10 20 20 25
5 9 2 5 11
1 2 1 2 4
20 22 50 40 36
33 42 21 29 38
4 8 3 6 7
12 19 14 21 18
2 2 3 1 0
9 8 13 4 0
9 9 10 3 5
1 1 3 1 2
11 11 30 33 40
3 4 3 3 7
0 2 0 1 2
0 50 0 33 29
34 38 37 29 33
3 5 6 3 4
9 13 16 10 12
27 22 18 11 19
4 2 2 1 0
15 9 11 9 0
6 5 6 7 2
1 1 1 1 2
17 20 17 14 100
7 4 5 11 4
0 1 3 2 0
0 25 60 18 0
40 31 29 29 25
5 4 6 4 2
13 13 21 14 8
34 14 32 15 17
4 1 7 1 1
12 7 22 7 6
12 0 5 3 5
5 Ό 3 1 1
42 nm 60 33 20
6 6 3 9 2
2 1 0 2 1
33 17 0 22 50
52 20 40 27 24
Stanford U State U of New York, Buffalo State U of New York, Stony Brook Texas, U of, Austin3 Texas A&M U
16 22 22 32 34
1 1 2 1 3
6 5 9 3 9
4 4 7 6 3
0 1 2 1 0
0 25 29 17 0
2 6 4 9 8
1 1 1 2 1
50 17 25 22 13
22 32 33 47 45
2 3 5 4 4
9 9 15 9 9
Utah, U of Virginia, U of Virginia Polytechnic Inst. & State U Washington, U of Wisconsin, U of, Madison
22 21 16
2 1 2
9 5 13
4 2 11
1 0 1
25 0 9
5 2 6
2 1 0
40 50 0
31 25 33
5 2 3
16 8 9
31 30
2 2
6 7
3 2
1 0
33 0
6 11
0 2
0 18
40 43
3 4
8 9
1,094
104
272
59
306
63
1,672
226
Akron, U of Arizona, U of Arizona State Ua California, U of, Berkeley California, U of, Irvine
U 20 23 36 26
2 5 2 5 1
18% 25 9 14 4
5 3 8 6 3
0 0 1 1 0
California, U of, Los Angeles3 California, U of, San Diego3 California, U of, San Francisco5 California Inst, of Technology Chicago, U of
28 28 12 22 14
6 4 0 2 1
21 14 0 9 7
7 2 1 2 3
1 0 1 1 1
Colorado, U of3 Cornell Uc Delaware, U of Florida, U of Florida State Ua
25 29 16 31 15
4 2 1 2 2
16 7 6 6 13
2 5 9 12 10
1 Georgia Inst, of Technology3 Harvard Uc Illinois, U of, Urbana-Champaign Indiana U Johns Hopkins U
22 18 28 16 13
1 2 4 0 0
5 11 14 0 0
I Louisiana State U Maryland, U of, College Park3 Massachusetts, U of, Amherst Massachusetts Inst, of Technology 1 Michigan, U of
21 23 9 19 19
1 5 0 3 1
Michigan State U Minnesota, U of North Carolina, U of, Chapel Hill 1 Northwestern U 1 Notre Dame, U of3
22 25 24 23 21
Ohio State U Pennsylvania, U of 1 Pennsylvania State U Pittsburgh, U of Princeton U Purdue U RiceU Rutgers Uc South Carolina, U of3 1 Southern California, U of
TOTAL
10%
0% 0 13 17 0
22%
21%
11 2 10 4 3 ;
NOTE: Appointments as of 2006-07 academic year, a Chemistry and biochemistry, b Pharmaceutical chemistry, c Chemistry and chemical biology . nm = not meaningful.
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DECEMBER 18, 2006
11
21 10 25 15 13
14%
