Communications of the ACM
Female Scientists Face New Career Challenges
A new Cornell University report examines female representation in the sciences and the factors that affect the inequalities in the field between men and women. "Among the top 100 U.S. universities, only 8.8-15.8 percent of tenure-track positions in many math-intensive fields are held by women, and female full professors number (less than or equal to) 10 percent," say Cornell's Stephen J. Ceci and Wendy M. Williams, the authors of the report. The researchers found that part of the discrepancy comes from women making free or constrained choices related to raising a family.
The researchers examined 20 years worth of data on female study reviews, hiring, and funding practices. Although women who were given the same resources as men had generally equal careers, the researchers found that women were more likely to abandon their careers than men. The researchers agree with a U.S. Government Accountability Office report, which recommends allowing part-time work to be available to female scientists.
"Regarding the role of math-related career preferences, adolescent girls often prefer careers focusing on people as opposed to things, and this preference accounts for their burgeoning numbers in such fields as medicine and biology, and their smaller presence in math-intensive fields such as computer science, physics, engineering, chemistry, and mathematics, even when math ability is equated," according to the report.
From USA Today
View Full Article
Abstracts Copyright © 2011 Information Inc. 
, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
No entries found