Women Scientists in Industry and Government: How Much Progress in the 1970's?: an Interim Report to the Office of Science and Technology Policy (1980)

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SUMMARY OF FINDINGS WOMEN IN INDUSTRY • A quarter of all male scientists and engineers in the Ph.D. work force but only seven percent of such women held positions in industry in 1977. This differential is partly due to the fact that relatively few of the women Ph.D.s are in engineering and physics — fields which together account for about 40 percent of the doctorate-1evel jobs in industry. (page 8) • For several fields, the percentage of women among industrial scientists was less than half their percentage in the Ph.D. work force. (page 9) • Women represented approximately six percent of the net increase in industrial R&D personnel between 1973 and 1977. The electronics industry recorded the largest proportional increase in number of women — ll percent. (page 10) • Male doctorate-holders were twice as likely as comparable women to be in managerial positions in 1977. (page ll) • Sex differences in salaries for new Ph.D.s have been greatly reduced. Otherwise, the pay differential remains substantial: men typically earned $7,500 more than women among older Ph.D.s and $4,000 more in the mid-career group, based on 1977 salaries. For the mid-career scientists and engineers the salary differentials were noticeably larger in the 1977 than in 1973. (page 15) • Similar proportions of men and women in industry had received their doctorates from prestigious academic departments (page 18), but in several fields the men were more likely to have engaged in postdoctoral study prior to employment. (page 20) • The sex differences in hiring rates and salaries are most marked in the life sciences where the pool of doctoral women is relatively large. (page 22) • The available data do not identify causes of the differences in employment, work activities, and salaries for men and women Ph.D.s in industry, (page 23)

WOMEN IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT • Between 1974 and 1978 the number of women scientists and engineers in the federal government grew from just under 8,000 to nearly 12,000 or 50 percent, while total federal employment of such personnel increased from 134,700 to 156,200 or 16 percent. (page 27) • Women now account for one in 13 of the federally employed scientists and engineers at all degree levels and one in 20 of the Ph.D. personnel. (page 27) • Approximately 21 percent of the women scientists and engi- neers were in GS 13 and above in 1978 compared with 45 percent of the men. (page 28) • The proportion of women scientists and engineers in GS 15-18 showed an increase from 2.4 percent in 1974 to 2.9 percent in 1978. (page 28) • In general, women scientists and engineers were promoted to a higher grade and to management positions at a faster rate than their male counterparts between 1974 and 1978. Forty percent of the women who were GS 12's in 1974 had been promoted to a higher grade by 1978 compared with 28 percent of the men. Despite these adjustments, women scientists and engineers still hold only about 500 of the 17,600 federal managerial jobs. (page 31) • Salary differences for men and women scientists and engineers remained substantial, despite the fact that women's earnings climbed somewhat more rapidly than did men's over this period. In the mid-career group — those age 40-44 — the differential in pay amounted to $4,300 as of 1978. (page 34) • Among the new accessions, women scientists were typically hired at a lower grade and a lower salary than comparable males. This was found at all degree levels and number of years since the degree was earned. (page 36) • Sex differences in starting salaries for new Ph.D.s in government are slight, but for those six years or more past the doctorate, the differential grows to at least $2,400. (page 36) • Sex differences in starting salaries and grade levels for recent bachelor's and master's degree holders remain large, with men earning almost 20 percent more than women. (page 37)