Where are the Women?

The Chronicle examines why there are so few women in academia.

While women have made inroads in professions like English and psychology, over all more than 70 percent of professors teaching at the country's top research institutions in the 2001-2 academic year were male. Even at the entry level, men made up nearly 60 percent of the assistant professors that year at research universities, according to a survey by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Women don't self promote? The family problem? Old boys network? Check it out.

One commenter in their Colloquy section gave this bit of useful advice:

Let me conclude with some advice to new female PhDs looking for employment. It is an immediate---and I do mean immediate---turnoff when your cover letter starts out with

"I am a female applicant...."

We on the faculty are tired of having to deal with the AA office and their stupid requirements. Starting out your cover letter with this wording just throw it into the face of the faculty---and they resent it. Start your cover letter with this and believe me when I say you will automatically go into the REJECT pile.

Another commenter adds:

Oh geez, not yet another inane hand-wringing session on the lack of women in the academy. Why do we have to endure this pity party year after year? Puhleeez.

Discrimination against women in the academy (and frankly, anywhere else in Western society) is a non-issue. In fact, contemporary women in First World societies are the most pampered, spoiled and privileged people in human history.

Yes, all academics are frothing-at-the-mouth, knee jerk, crazed liberals.

Comments

[New Kid on the Hallway]

Ugh.... started to read the comments, but I had to stop because they were making me feel sick. Yes, I completely agree with you - clearly ALL academics are frothing-at-the-mouth, knee jerk, crazed liberals...

[Claire]

I've only read the comments you've posted here and I want to be sick!!

[Amardeep]

The comments of a female chem professor C*** H**** are particularly disturbing. And not just her weird comment about 'accommodations' that she claims some women are seeking -- Her dismissive response to the charge that there is racism in academia also really bugs me.

[JennyD]

You should check out Crooked Timber where Kieran is writing about why so few women blog about politics, etc. The discussion turns into why so few women academics blog.

[laura 11d]

Thanks, Jenny. (and nice blog, BTW). I'm heading over there to give Kieran a lashing.

[heading out]

In self defense (to qualify myself to speak as it were) the last two candidates for positions that I had to fill were filled with female applicants. However when you move into some of the technical and engineering fields it is very difficult to find qualified female applicants. There are simply not enough grad students moving through the pipe, and they come from a reducing pool of candidates at the undergraduate level. I realize that it is different in other fields but in some we just can't find the qualified folk. This gets more true if you are looking for particular scientific specialities. This is not meant to be an excuse, but a reason.

[Richard Bellamy]

All I know are law schools, but in that area, at least, women have fewer jobs as new law professors because fewer women apply.

It's all laid out in chart 7B here:

http://www.aals.org/statistics/2002-03/page6.html

A higher percentage of women applicants are hired, but more men than women apply -- thus more men with jobs.