From Scarcity to Visibility Gender Differences in the Careers of Doctoral Scientists and Engineers (2001) / Chapter Skim
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3: Entry into Science
3: Entry into Science
Pages 29-62
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From page 29... ...
-- Stephan Jay Gould, New York Times Book Review, 19841 But a scientist without a Ph.D. (or a medical degree)
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From page 30... ...
We then turn to characteristics of a scientist's own education, including the type of baccalaureate institution attended, the prestige of the doctoral program, time from the baccalaureate to the Ph.D., and the types of financial support received during graduate study. While there has been a reduction in gender differences in background characteristics, some differences remain that may lead to disadvantages for women in their postdoctoral careers.
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From page 31... ...
In her presidential address to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Sheila Widnall (1988) described the pipeline as shown in Figure 3-1: out of a cohort of 2,000 girls and 2,000 boys in the ninth grade, 280 boys and 220 girls complete work in high school that prepares them for science in college; of those 500 students, 140 men and 44 women concentrate in science in college, with only 46 men and 20 women receiving a bachelor's degree in science; of these 66 students, just five men and one woman earn a doctorate in science or engineering.
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From page 32... ...
From 11,000 women in 1870, to 601,000 in 1940, to nearly 7 million in 1995, the number of women enrolled in baccalaureate programs has increased every year (shown by the dashed line) , with explosive growth beginning in 1960.
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From page 33... ...
The greater representation of women occurred as the number of women increased and the number of men stayed nearly constant. From 1975 to 1995, the total number of baccalaureate degrees awarded increased by 26 percent, from 931,663 in 1975 to 1,174,436 in 1995.6 Degrees to women increased by 52 percent, while degrees awarded to men increased by only 4 percent.
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From page 34... ...
By 1980, there was substantial movement towards parity, with rates 25 percent lower in the physical sciences, 6 percent in the biological sciences, and 3 percent in psychology.7 In S&E fields, Barber (1995) calculated that the number of women who earned doctorates each year represented from 5 percent to 7 percent of the women earning baccalaureate degrees in S&E eight years earlier.
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From page 35... ...
During this period, degrees to women, shown by the thick black line, grew a modest 0.3 percentage points each year. The growth for women was limited by competition with veterans from the Korean Conflict returning to school using the GI Bill, Natural Sciences Social Sciences 60 Percent of Ph.D.s to Women 50 40 30 20 10 0 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 FIGURGE 3-3 Percent of doctoral degrees awarded to women in the natural and social sciences from 1920 to 1996.
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From page 36... ...
SOURCE: Doctorate Records File. social pressure for early marriage and childbearing, and discrimination against women in admissions and financial aid (CEEWISE 1983:1.13, 2.1)
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From page 37... ...
may need at least a minimum number of women before these women attain a critical mass whereby they are no longer viewed as an oddity. Having a critical mass can minimize socialization difficulties otherwise encountered in a male-dominated environment (LeBold 1987:86 and the literature cited therein)
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From page 38... ...
1973 1979 1989 1995 40 Number of Ph.D.s to Women in 100s 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Engineering Mathematics Physical Life Sciences Social/ Behavioral Sciences Sciences FIGURE 3-6 Number of Ph.D.s awarded to women, by field and year of survey. SOURCE: Doctorate Records File.
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From page 39... ...
There was similar progress in doctoral degrees, although by 1990 women were still less than 30 percent of the Ph.D.s in science and engineering fields. Overall, even with the significant gains that have been made, women continue to lag behind men, especially in science and engineering fields where the percent of degrees awarded to women remains substantially below 50 percent.
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From page 40... ...
. BACKGROUND CHARACTERISTICS OF SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS In this section, we compare the background characteristics of men and women who receive doctoral degrees in science and engineering.
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From page 41... ...
While the parents of both male and female Ph.D.s have much higher levels of education than the average man or woman in the United States, there are interesting gender differences. Until recent years, women who received doctorates in S&E were substantially more likely than men to have fathers with college degrees, with 47 percent of the fathers of female doctorates graduating from college compared to 29 percent of the fathers of male doctorates.9 This is seen by comparing the dashed line for women to the thick black line for men in Figure 3-8.
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From page 42... ...
; Doctorate Records File. Women Men Percentage of Mothers with College Degrees 70 Women in U.S.
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From page 43... ...
This might reflect the greater importance of parental encouragement for women during a time when female doctorates were rare and societal support for women entering science and engineering was much weaker. The continued difference between men and women in the education levels of their mothers may also reflect the importance to young women of having a same-sex role model and encouragement from another woman.
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From page 44... ...
Women are more likely to attend baccalaureate-only institutions, such as liberal arts or women's colleges, while men are more likely to attend institutions that also grant a doctoral degree. However, Figures 3-12 and 3-13 show that changes in baccalaureate origins since the 1930s have lead to a convergence in the educational backgrounds of male and female doctorates.
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From page 45... ...
Research I Research II Doctoral Master's Baccalaureate 100 90 80 Percent for Men 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 FIGURE 3-13 Carnegie types of baccalaureate degrees for men. NOTE: Data for each year are based on 5-year moving averages.
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From page 46... ...
The larger proportion of women attending baccalaureate-only colleges tends to put them at a disadvantage in preparation for S&E careers. Except for a few highly selective colleges, most liberal arts colleges lack the sophisticated facilities for modern science study, as well as faculty oriented to or actively engaged in research.
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From page 47... ...
The modality of doctorates in all fields except mathematics receive their degrees from strong departments; in mathematics, distinguished programs produce the largest number of doctorates. In engineering, the physical sciences, and life sciences, where expensive laboratories are necessary, there is a smaller proportion of degrees from the least prestigious programs.
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From page 48... ...
Men Women 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s Engineering 3.34 3.31 3.51 3.49 3.42 3.33 3.62 3.50 Mathematical Sciences 3.41 3.29 3.47 3.31 3.43 3.20 3.12 3.02 Physical Sciences 3.33 3.34 3.51 3.51 3.45 3.27 3.44 3.51 Life Sciences 3.32 3.25 3.36 3.28 3.39 3.30 3.32 3.37 Social/ Behavioral Sciences 3.20 3.01 2.98 3.03 3.17 3.11 3.03 2.91 Difference: Women - Men 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s Engineering .08 .02 .11 .01 Mathematical Sciences .02 –.09 –.35 –.29 Physical Sciences .12 –.07 –.07 .00 Life Sciences .08 .05 –.03 .09 Social/ Behavioral Sciences –.03 .10 .05 –.13 NOTE: Positive values in the "Difference: Women-Men" column indicate that women are from more prestigious departments. Prestige scores less than 2 are classified as adequate programs; those from 2 through 2.99 as good programs; from 3 through 3.99 as strong; and those above 4 as distinguished.
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From page 49... ...
Until 1990 in engineering, the total time was about .5 years longer for men, with only trivial gender differences in the physical sciences. The longer total time to degree for men in engineering might reflect the greater likelihood of baccalaureate engineers beginning work immediately after the baccalaureate and then returning to graduate study after a period of employment.
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From page 50... ...
50 FROM SCARCITY TO VISIBILITY 1970-74 1975-79 1980-84 1985-89 1990-94 13 12 11 Mean total time 10 9 8 7 6 5 Engineering Mathematics Physical Life Sciences Social/ Sciences Behavioral Sciences Panel A: Total time to degree 1970-74 1975-79 1980-84 1985-89 1990-94 13 12 Mean registered time 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 Engineering Mathematics Physical Life Sciences Social/ Sciences Behavioral Sciences Panel B: Registered time to degree FIGURE 3-15 Mean time between undergraduate degree and doctorate, by field and 5-year period during which the Ph.D. was received.
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From page 51... ...
(1996:12, 29) found that gender differences in registered time in a doctoral program were smaller than gender differences in elapsed time from the baccalaureate to Ph.D.
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From page 52... ...
FIGURE 3-16 Gender differences in average time between undergraduate degree and doctorate, by field and 5-year period during which the Ph.D. was received.
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From page 53... ...
Figure 3-17 shows the steady increases in the percent of Ph.D.s who use loans to fund their graduate education and the substantial field differences in both the relative frequency and rate of increase in the use of loans. Loans are least likely in mathematics and engineering, and substantially more likely in the social and behavioral sciences, where in the 1990s over 40 percent relied at least partially on loans to support their graduate education.
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From page 54... ...
NOTE: Positive values indicate more women than men are supported with loans.
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From page 55... ...
TAs are most common in mathematics, likely resulting from institutional needs to staff a large number of required courses in undergraduate mathematics, followed closely by the physical sciences. They are somewhat less frequent in the social and behavioral sciences, although there has been a steady increase from 1968 to 1994.
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From page 56... ...
. In the life sciences and social/behavioral sciences men are more likely to have teaching positions.
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From page 57... ...
NOTE: Positive values indicate more women are supported by this type of funding.
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From page 58... ...
For women, there were steady increases in the percent married until around 1984, when rates began to mirror the gradual decline shown for men. By 1994, the difference between men and women was reduced to 7 percentage points.
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From page 59... ...
Accordingly, the decline in the percent married since 1985 almost certainly reflects the younger biological age of these individuals at the time of the survey. Given the demands of a scientific career, and the likelihood that women will undertake more of the responsibilities of raising children, it is not surprising that male scientists are more likely to have children.
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From page 60... ...
In the social and behavioral sciences, women were just over half of the Ph.D.s in 1995 and in the life sciences they reached over 40 percent. The concentration of women's doctoral degrees in psychology and in some of the social and biological sciences suggests that these fields could become female dominated in the future (NSB 1993)
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From page 61... ...
increasing minimally, if at all." Although girls and boys are increasingly taking the same number of science and math credits in high school, many more girls drop out of the pipeline for scientific careers because of a lack of interest and encouragement in scientific fields that are heavily dominated by males. The greater number of women lost through attrition on the way to the Ph.D.
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From page 62... ...
When we examine background characteristics of men and women, we find that while differences persist, they have shrunk considerably. Still, women are less likely to obtain undergraduate degrees from Ph.D.
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