1. Women in Academia June 19, 2007 SPGRE Professional Development Seminars

2. The numbers Women have earned more than half of the BS degrees in science and engineering since 2000. 4 times as many men as women hold full-time faculty positions among the PhDs in science and engineering minority women with doctorates are less likely than white women or men of any racial or ethnic group to be in tenured positions. Tracy Hampton, PhD JAMA. 2006;296:1957.

3. More numbers For over 30 years, women are 30% of SBE PhD and 20% of life sciences PhDs At the top research institutions women make up 15.4% of the full professors SBE and 14.8% in the life sciences –Life sciences are the only fields in science and engineering where the proportion of women reaches into the double digits. Beyond Bias and Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering (2007) National Academy of Sciences: Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy

4. Difficulties faced by women Less and fewer opportunities to hold leadership positions –Car et al. Journal of Women’s Health 2003 Slower advancement and less representation at top levels –Valian, V. Washington Post 2005 More social isolation –Wright et al Academic Medicine 2003

5. Life Issues Women who take fast-track academic jobs are more likely to remain single or childless or get divorced than either their male peers or their female counterparts in second-tier jobs. – R. Drago et al. Academe 2006 http://www.aaup.org/publications/Academe/2005/05so/05sodrag.htm 10.2 % of men, but 16 % of women, reported that they remained single because they did not have time for a family and a successful academic career. –Mason and Goulden Academe 2004

6. Having children 12.6 % of men and 25.6% of women faculty members had fewer children than they wanted to have “to achieve academic success” – R. Drago et al. Academe 2006 http://www.aaup.org/publications/Academe/2005/05so/05sodrag. htm

7. Children and time off 14.4 % of fathers and 51% of mothers came back to work sooner than they would have liked after having a new child because they “wanted to be taken seriously as an academic” – R. Drago et al. Academe 2006 http://www.aaup.org/publications/Academe/2005/05so/05sodrag.htm

8. Other challenges “ Nearly ¼ of women said their colleagues engaged occasionally or frequently in ‘unprofessional’ behavior and excluded women from professional activities” -Lawler 2003 Science

9. Money Women, on average, earned $10,300 and $12,895 less than men in public and private institutions, respectively. Men at research universities earned, on average, 10% more than women. http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_development/previous_i ssues/articles/1120/women_without_tenure_part_1/

10. Suggestion of the National Academies Change the traditional model to an inclusive model with provisions for equitable and unbiased evaluation of accomplishment, equitable allocations of support and resources, pay equity, and gender-equal family leave policies. Otherwise, a large number of the people trained in and capable of doing the very best science and engineering will not participate as they should in scientific and engineering professions

11. Does this mean that women should avoid academia in order to get married, have children, earn a equal wage as men? What do we do in the mean time?

12. What are some of the ways we can avoid some of these pitfalls?

13. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/start.htm –Summary of demographics of degree holders in S&E