Many scholars and researchers have carried out studies either using some of the national data sets or by collecting new information from surveys of faculty. As of 2004, there was a rich body of literature comparing various outcomes in the academic workforce by gender, focusing on a variety of factors:
-
Salary (e.g., Barbezat, 2002; Becker and Toutkoushian, 2003; Ginther, 2001; and Perna, 2003c),
-
Supplemental earnings (e.g., Perna, 2002),
-
Job satisfaction (e.g., August and Waltman, 2004; Hagedorn et al., 1999; Olsen et al., 1995),
-
Productivity (e.g., Porter and Umbach, 2001; Sax et al., 2002),
-
The probability of being in a tenure-track position (e.g., NRC, 2001a; NSF, 2004d; Olson, 2002)
-
The probability of having tenure (e.g., Ahern and Scott, 1981; Benedict and Wilder, 1999; NRC, 2001a; Perna, 2001a),
-
The probability of being an assistant or associate or full professor (e.g., NRC, 2001a; NSF, 2004d; Olson, 2002; Ransom and Megdal, 1993),
-
The probability of being granted tenure (e.g., Kahn, 1993),
-
The probability of being granted a promotion (e.g., Ahern and Scott, 1981; Ginther, 2001),
-
Time to promotion (e.g., Ginther, 2001),
-
Work activities, that is, time spent on research, teaching, and service (e.g., Ahern and Scott, 1981),
-
Perceptions of (in)equality (e.g., Robst et al., 1998), and
-
The likelihood of being retained or of leaving a faculty position (e.g., Rosser, 2004; Zhou and Volkwein, 2004).
A 2003 literature review conducted by the National Science Foundation noted 15 studies on gender differences in rank and tenure and identified 13 studies focusing on gender differences in earnings in nationwide samples as well as several more studies employing a single-institution sample. Barbezat’s (2002) “History of Pay Equity Studies” is another noteworthy review, which surveyed a number of studies on pay issues. A number of scholars used the Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR) to study gender differences (Ahern and Scott, 1981; Farber, 1977; Ginther, 2001; Kulis et al., 2002; NRC, 2001a; Olson, 2002) while other scholars employed data from the National Survey of Postsecondary Faculty (Bradburn et al., 2002; Glover and Parsad, 2002; Nettles et al., 2000; Perna, 2001c; and Toutkoushian, 1998a and b).
Examples of studies relying on original data collection include a study undertaken by Nelson and Rogers (2005), which looked at the number of male
