Women In Science Face Widespread Bias

Women in science and engineering continue to face barriers to hiring and promotion at research universities that do not confront men of comparable ability and training, concludes a report issued by the National Academies on Sept. 18.

"Women are capable of contributing more to the nation's science and engineering research enterprise, but bias and outmoded practices governing academic success impede their progress almost every step of the way," said Donna E. Shalala, president of the University of Miami and head of the committee that wrote the report.

At a Washington, D.C., briefing, Shalala called the findings "deeply troubling and embarrassing" and said fundamental changes in the culture and opportunities at U.S. research universities are urgently needed. "It's not a lack of talent, but an unintended bias, that is locking women out," she remarked.

Forty years ago, women made up only 3% of U.S. scientific and technical workforce. According to the report, women now earn one-third of the Ph.D. degrees granted by the 50 leading departments in chemistry, 27% of Ph.D. degrees from the top 50 mathematics and statistics departments, and one-fourth in physics and astronomy. In the top 50 engineering departments, women earn one-quarter of the Ph.D.s granted in chemical engineering and 15% in engineering overall.

University and college faculties fail to reflect that dramatic educational progress, however. Among science and engineering Ph.D.s, four times more men than women hold full-time faculty positions, the report says. In addition, minority women with doctorates are less likely than white women or men of any racial or ethnic group to be in tenured positions.

Committee member Ana Mari Cauce, executive vice provost at the University of Washington, says the panel explored a variety of commonly held beliefs about women, including the claim that they are not as good in math as men because of differences in brain structure.

She says studies have not found any significant biological differences that can account for the lower representation of women in academic faculty and leadership positions. "In fact, female performance in high school mathematics now matches that of males," Cauce says.

Geraldine L. Richmond, a chemistry professor at the University of Oregon and a member of the committee, says the report's findings were no surprise. "You see the difficulties that women face all the time," she remarks.

"We have to work harder in our academic institutions and in the sciences to make certain that all faculty operate in a professional manner, using appropriate behavior and showing respect for colleagues," says Richmond, who is the founder and chair of the Committee on the Advancement of Women Chemists.

The report says trustees, university presidents, and provosts should provide clear leadership in changing the culture and structure of their institutions to recruit, retain, and promote more women into faculty and leadership positions. "Transforming institutional structures and procedures to try to eliminate these gender biases is going to be hard, but I think it has to happen on an institutional level," Richmond says.