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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PART 2 WOMEN SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT The federal government has a long history of laws and executive orders prohibiting employment discrimination. Executive Order ll478, issued in 1969, required each agency and department to maintain an affirmative program of equal employment opportunity. With the passage of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, enforcement provisions were strengthened. A number of internal government structures have been created to deal with affirmative action programs, recruitment policies, and bias complaints. The Federal Women's Program (FWP) was established in 1967 under the provisions of Executive Order ll375. FWP managers, located throughout the federal agencies and departments, are responsible for identifying barriers within their organization and working with agency officials on corrective strategies. Agency-wide oversight of EEO policies is carried out by the Office of Personnel Management. (See box on next page.) Recent sex discrimination cases brought against federal agencies have focused attention on possible bias in promotions. In a July 1978 consent agreement, the Justice Department acknowledged that there had been widespread discrimination against women professionals at the Department of Energy. The suit was brought by a manpower analyst and some 255 other women in scientific and other professional positions. More recently, a discrimination suit was won by a woman mathematician at the National Institutes of Health, granting her a retroactive pay raise. In the DOE case, the government reportedly agreed that there was an $8 million salary discrepancy for men and women in the same types of posi- tions. : What is the situation for women scientists and engineers in other departments and agencies? Of particular interest is whether women are being hired, paid, and promoted at the same rate as men with similar training. In this section we will examine employment data on men and women scientists in the federal government for 1974 and 1978. The data were obtained from the Office of Personnel Management's computerized files and include the entire population of interest rather than a sample. (See box on page 3 for a description of the data base and its scope.) Included in the following analyses are persons who were trained in science and 1 Washington Post, 15 July 1978, p. 5. 25

In February 1979 Alan K. Campbell, Director of the Office of Personnel Management, submitted a statement to the Senate Committee on Human Resources for hearings on "The Coming Decade: American Women and Human Resources Policies and Programs". Following is an excerpt of his statement on Federal employment of women: With regard to Federal employment, women comprised 30.7 percent of the total Federal civilian work force in 1977. They comprised 77.1 percent of employees in grades 1 through 4, but they comprised only 3.4 percent of employees in grades 16 through 18. Despite the large number of women in the Federal Career Service, few of them have reached the executive levels. Of particular concern today is the scanty representation of women in grades 13 through 15 since these comprise the "feeder group," the ranks which produce tomorrow's executives. Since Federal managers tend to fill top jobs almost exclusively from within, the paucity of women in the "feeder grades" makes it extremely unlikely that the supergrade situation for women will improve markedly so long as we hold to present staffing habits. Hard data such as these explain why the Federal Women's Program (FWP) was established in 1967 — "to enhance employment and advancement opportunities for women in Government." The purpose of the FWP is to assist women in applying for, obtaining, and advancing in Federal employment. The Federal Women's Program Office, which is part of the Affirmative Employment Programs Office of the Office of Personnel Management, provides Government-wide leadership and guidance to the Federal Women's Program. Each Federal agency and department is required to have an FWP Manager, and today there are over 50 full-time and 10,000 part-time FWP Managers around the world. Each FWP Manager works to identify special employment problems for women within the Manager's organization. Then the FWP Manager works with top organization management to develop and implement strategies for eliminating barriers to full employment opportunities for women. Over the past 10 years, we have certainly seen some progress. Although there still are far too few women in the "feeder" grades and in the supergrades, there has been a significant increase in the number of women in professional and technical jobs in grades 7 through ll. Federal employment for women has been enhanced through repeal of restrictions on women bearing firearms as Federal employees, repeal of height restrictions for most Federal jobs, changes in leave provisions which allow advancing up to 30 days of sick leave for maternity, and increased use of part-time employment and flexible working schedules. But we still have a long way to go. The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 includes provisions such as merit pay for supervisors and managers, recruitment for women and minorities where they are underrepresented, and new performance appraisal systems — provisions with tremendous potential impact on Federal women. The Office of Personnel Management plans to delegate much of the responsibility for implementing these provisions to agencies. Therefore, the primary focus for agency FWP Managers in the coming years will be to help forge these implementing regulations and to assure that agency personnel policies and practices are both creative and equitable with regard to employment for women. 26

engineering fields, Bachelor's degree and above.2 The population is further restricted to those employed in professional scientific or engineering positions or in certain administrative categories.3 Both competitive and excepted personnel are included. However, the analyses are limited to graded positions. Utilization by field Between 1974 and 1978 the number of women scientists and engineers in the federal service grew by 50 percent from just under 8,000 to nearly 12,000. Total employment of scientists and engineers increased 16 percent over the same period. Women now account for one in thirteen of the federally employed scientists and engineers. Their representation varies considerably by field, however, as shown in Table 2.1. TABLE 2.1 Number and percent women among scientists and engineers in the federal government by field, 1978 All degree levels Field* No. Women % Women All science/engr fields 11,713 7.5 Mathematicians/statisticians 1,963 18.6 Computer specialists 229 12.1 Physicists 206 2.8 Chemists 979 13.5 Other physical scientists 550 6.1 Engineers 617 0.9 Agricultural scientists 551 2.6 Bioscientists 1,929 17.3 Social scientists* 4,648 23.3 *Field of highest degree. Specialties included in each of the field categories are shown in Appendix C. 2Purposely excluded are degree recipients in the health and medical professional fields. The academic fields of science and engineering that were included are listed in Appendix C, Table C-1. 3See Appendix C, Table C-2, for definitions of the selected occupational series and titles. 27

At the Ph.D. level, the government employed about 800 women scientists and engineers in 1978, compared with fewer than 500 four years earlier. The proportion of women among doctorate-1evel personnel — in the federal government and nationwide — is shown in Table 2.2. Women appear to be under-represented in nearly all fields, markedly so in biosciences. TABLE 2.2 Percent women among doctoral scientists and engineers in the federal government, 1978, and percent in the total labor force Ph, , D.s in Field of federal government Total labor force** doctorate* No. men No . women % women % women All science/engr. fields 13,953 761 5.2 9.7 Mathematicians/statisticians 511 33 6.1 6.9 Computer scientists 50 1 2.0 6.8 Physicists 1,491 32 2.1 2.5 Chemists 1,593 95 5.6 6.1 Other physical scientists 1,878 62 3.2 3.6 Engineers 2,291 23 1.0 0.5 Agricultural scientists 1,232 15 1.2 2.0 Bioscientists 3,011 251 7.7 15.6 Social scientists 1,842 245 11.7 18.0 *Specialties included in each of the field categories are shown in Appendix C. +Central Personnel Data File, U.S. Office of Personnel Management. ** Survey of Doctorate Recipients, National Research Council, 1977 Grade distribution The categories of federal employment are defined by Civil Service grade levels. Comparing the grade distribution of men and women over time is a measure of their relative status and rates of advancement. Table 2.3 shows that in 1978, 45.2 percent of the men were GS 13's and above compared with only 21.3 percent of the women scientists. The gap is only slightly less than that in 1974, when the comparable data were 45.4 and 20.6 percent, respectively. However, there is evidence of an increased proportion of women in grades 15-18 — up from 2.4 to 2.9 percent. This increase in the upper levels, while modest, is important due to the high visibility of such positions. For women Ph.D. scientists and engineers in particular, the progress 28

TABLE 2.3 Percent grade distribution of scientists and engineers in the federal government by sex, 1974 and 1978 (All degree 1974 levels) 1978 Grade Men Women Men Women Below ll 13.8 41.4 12.8 39.4 11 17.5 19.7 16.6 19.1 12 23.2 18.4 25.4 20.2 13 23.9 13.2 23.6 12.9 14 12.8 5.0 13.0 5.5 15 7.3 2.1 7.4 2.4 16-18 1.4 0.3 1.2 0.5 is less obvious. While the proportion of men in grades 15-18 remained the same over this period — about 23 percent — the comparable figure for women Ph.D.s dropped from approximately 12 to 10 percent (Table 2.4) This may be partly due to an influx of women hired at the GS ll and 12 levels which will be discussed later in this report (See page 35). TABLE 2.4 Percent grade distribution of Ph.D. scientists and engineers in the federal government by sex, 1974 and 1978 (Ph.D.s only) 1974 1978 Grade Men Women Men Women <11 5.4 13.0 6.3 18.2 12 16.4 21.8 16.4 26.0 13 31.0 33.4 28.9 29.3 14 23.5 20.0 25.0 16.4 15 18.4 10.0 19.3 8.4 16-18 5.1 1.9 4.2 1.7 Since women comprise relatively more of the recent hires, it is worthwhile to control by age in comparing their grade distribution with that for men. Except for the younger age groups, women scientists have a grade profile very different from men. in the same five-year cohort (Figure 2.1). And while the grade distribution for men shifts upward significantly in the late thirties and the forties, the profile for women over the same age span does not change materially. In all age groups, well over half of the women scientists have not advanced past GS 12, whereas by the early forties nearly 60 percent of their male colleagues have. 29

FIGURE 2.1 Percent grade distribution ol scientists and engineers in the Federal Government by age and sex, 1978. 40 r Men Age 30-34 Women LU 30 o 5 20 o cc S 10 20% 23% <10 11 12 13 14 >15 <10 11 12 13 14 >15 GRADE Men Age 35-39 Women 40 — LU 30 _ u i < l Z. 20 - — — LU j o BE I £ 10 - | — i n r 43%, i ^ 32%r-n <10 11 12 13 145*15 <10 11 12 13 14 >15 GRADE Men Age 40-44 women 40 ^~ ID 30 Z 20 — i LU •• • • O OC 1 £ 10 — ^_ n r~ 59% \ 37% ] — , GRADE 30

Senior-level positions In Table 2.5, we compare the proportions of men and women scientists and engineers in "senior-1evel" positions (GS 13-15) and in the "super- grades" (GS 16-18) by field. In most fields of science and engineering, men are two to three times as likely to be found in grades 13-15. Even in the social sciences where women fare best relative to their male counter- parts, only one-fourth of the women are in senior-1evel positions compared with nearly one-half of the men. TABLE 2.5 Percent of scientists and engineers in grades 13-18 by field and sex, 1978 GS 13-15 GS 16-18 Field* Men Women Men Women Mathematicians /statisticians 47Z 24Z 1.0% 0.4Z Physical scientists 51 18 1.8 0.4 Engineers 49 18 0.9 0.2 Agricultural scientists 20 6 0.7 0.0 Bi OH dentists 38 14 1.2 0.2 Social scientists 46 25 2.9 0.8 *Field of highest degree. Specialties included in each of the field categories are shown in Appendix C. Promotions between 1974 and 1978 In order to better assess the changes in recent years, it will be necessary to examine separately the statistics for (i) scientists and engineers who were employed in the federal government in both 1974 and 1978, and (ii) those hired since 1974. For women scientists and engineers who were already in the federal service in 1974, an important measure of progress is their rate of promotion. As indicated in Table 2.6, women were promoted at a faster rate than their male counterparts between 1974 and 1978. Forty percent of the women scientists and engineers who were at GS 12 in 1974 had been promoted to a higher grade by 1978 compared with only 28 percent of the men. It should be pointed out, however, that in 1974 there were already some 45,000 men scientists and engineers in the higher grades compared with about 1,100 women. In this light, the seeming female advantage in promotion rates is not unexpected. Nonetheless, the promotion of women into grades 13-15 is critical as these are "feeder" grades for executive 31

posts. Also important is the finding that about 10 percent of the women scientists in GS 15 positions in 1974 had moved into the supergrades. TABLE 2.6 Scientists and engineers full-time employed in the federal government 1974-1978: selected statistics on grade promotions Number at grade in 1974 Men Women Z promoted between 1974 and 1978 Men Women All fields GS 11 17,934 1,053 47. 7Z 56. 6Z GS 12 24,302 1,031 28.0 40.1 GS 13 25,422 740 18.3 27.5 GS 14 12,936 262 15.7 22.9 GS 15 6,772 105 5.4 9.5 Physical scientists GS 11 2,272 251 51. 4 Z 45. OZ GS 12 3,785 182 29.2 30.8 GS 13 4,283 132 20.7 22.0 GS 14 2,370 34 19.0 35.3 GS 15 1,377 16 4.5 18.8 Bio- scientists GS 11 898 180 46.3 39.4 GS 12 1,103 133 37.3 33.9 GS 13 1,204 84 28.3 19.0 GS 14 645 35 21.3 25.7 GS 15 336 8 8.0 0.0 In the physical sciences and biosciences — the two largest groups of scientists in the federal government — the relative rates of promotions of women were favorable, except at the lower levels, where men moved up faster. Whether or not one has a Ph.D. is generally thought to be less critical for advancement in the government than in academe. This view is supported by the fact that as of 1978 only one-third of the 1,844 scientists and engineers in the supergrades were Ph.D.s. Even so, it may be of interest to examine Ph.D.s separately in terms of promotions. Table 2.7 shows that male doctoral scientists and engineers were promoted out of GS 12-13 more frequently than were comparable women, whereas at GS 14-15, the women scientists had higher promotion rates. In biosciences, which include one-third of all doctoral women in the federal service, promotion of women lagged consistently behind that for men. See remarks made by the director of the Office of Personnel Management in box on page 26. 32

TABLE 2.7 Ph.D. scientists and engineers full-time employed in federal government 1974-1978: selected statistics on grade promotions Number at grade in 1974 Men Women % Promoted between 1974 and 1978 Men Women All fields GS 12 1,455 68 55.7 54.4 GS 13 2,850 104 35.3 33.6 GS 14 2,125 56 24.5 26.8 GS 15 1,514 27 5.9 11.1 Physical scientists GS 12 501 26 54.7 50.0 GS 13 969 31 36.5 32.2 GS 14 824 15 26.3 53.3 GS 15 654 7 4.6 28.6 Bioscientists GS 12 393 26 52.2 38.5 GS 13 710 43 33.0 23.3 GS 14 420 21 24.2 14.3 GS 15 243 7 8.2 0.0 Salary increases How did women scientists and engineers fare in terms of salary increases over the 1974-1978 period? The following analysis of salaries is limited to persons full-time employed in the federal government in both years. Comparisons are controlled by age due to the disproportionately large number of women in the younger age groups. TABLE 2.8 Salary increases for full-time staff 1974-1978: scientists and engineers in the federal government Average annual Median salaries, 1974 Median salaries, 1978 increase (%) Age in 1978 Men Women Men Women Men Women Under 30 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50 and over $11,860 15,980 20,370 23,140 24,510 26,000 $10,860 15,690 19,190 20,290 20,750 22,200 $21,300 24,790 28,070 32,090 32,770 33,770 $20,800 24.540 26,580 27,830 28,750 30,100 15.8% 11.5 8.3 8.5 7.5 6.8 17.6% 13.0 8.5 8.2 8.5 7.9 33

In general, median salaries for women scientists and engineers increased somewhat faster than those for men, resulting in a slightly narrower salary gap in 1978. In the 50-and-over age group, median salaries had increased at an average annual rate of 7.9 percent for women, compared with 6.8 percent for men; the salary differential remained substantial, however, at $3,700 in 1978. The largest differential occurred in the mid-career group — those age 40-44 — where women scientists and engineers were typically paid $4,300 less than men. Women in Management Women scientists and engineers were promoted to management positions at a faster rate than men in the same age groups — a finding that is consistent with the data on grade promotions presented earlier. Only one in twenty of the women age 45 and over held managerial jobs in 1974, while one in ten did so four years later. Despite the recent progress, male scientists and engineers in the same age group were nearly twice as likely to be employed as managers in 1978 (Table 2.9). TABLE 2.9 Scientists and engineers in the federal government: Percent in managerial positions* by age and sex 19 74 1978 % Managers Z Managers Atte in 1974 Men Women Men Women Total 12.3 4.2 14.7 7.3 Under 30 5.6 4.5 8.3 6.4 30-34 7.1 2.8 9.7 6.8 35-39 11.4 4.0 15.0 6.2 40-44 14.1 2.9 17.1 7.7 45-49 16.9 5.8 18.3 10.2 50 and over 17.7 5.3 18.3 8.7 *Includes positions for which management, planning, or administration is the "functional classification". NOTE: Includes only those employed in the federal government in both 1974 and 1978. New Hires Between 1974 and 1978 about 5,900 women scientists and engineers were hired into the Civil Service, accounting for 13 percent of the new accessions. Table 2.10 shows the proportion of women among those hired from

outside the government by field of training, and separate statistics for the 10 agencies employing the largest numbers of scientists and engineers. Women comprised only two percent of the newly hired engineers but nearly 30 percent of the social scientists. Within academic specialties there is considerable variation among agencies in the proportion of women hired. HEW ranked first in the proportion of women scientists hired — close to 40 percent. Both NASA and the Veterans Administration (VA), show higher-than-average employment of women in at least eight out of nine fields, while the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) have a lower-than-average record in seven out of nine fields. The Defense Department is lower in all nine fields, for the lowest overall proportion of women scientists and engineers among these 10 agencies. TABLE 2.10 PROPORTION OF WOMEN AMONG NEW HIRES: Proportion of women among scientists and engineers hired Into federal service between 1974 and 1978 (all degree levels) CO « u Q 14 41 U h £ tl / O $ 5 | -H fc* 1 1 £ f*«J <s 3 • «J C >-* fc < $ Field* 3 • £ s All science/engr. fields Z 13.4 7.S 11.8 38.5 21.6 10.2 20.3 23.8 9.5 16.5 10.1 Mathematicians/statisticians 25.7 19.7 29.3 31.1 26.3 22.9 36.2 29.5 29.6 52.9 13.6 Computer specialists 14.1 9.3 19.4 20.0 21.9 23.9 17.2 14.3 6.8 30.0 35.7. Physicists 5.8 3.7 18.2 15.2 7.7 6.7 3.1 0 0 22.4 3.8 Chemists 16.1 10.6 15.0 30.1 29.4 19.1 20.0 14.6 6.3 26.9 11.0 Other physical scientists 10.0 7.7 14.0 25.7 33.3 11.7 5.0 12.5 6.7 16.7 7.2 Engineers 2.3 1.8 3.0 5.6 1.6 2.7 2.5 1.1 2.6 5.5 3.6 Agricultural scientists 8.4 5.4 9.2 26.3 18.2 3.6 22.1 10.0 24.1 11.1 6.0 Bioscientists 21.4 19.6 16.4 45.9 26.7 11.3 23.4 54.5 15.4 50.0 18.5 Social scientists 28.6 18. 5 31.5 45.0 33.8 26.3 30.3 28.6 24.2 27.8 24.5 Field of highest degree. Specialities included in each of the field categories are shown in Appendix C. Among Ph.D. scientists and engineers hired into the federal government since 1974, women account for only about 8 percent of the total, although they are more than 16 percent of the recent doctorate-holders (Table 2.11). In other words, the number of women Ph.D.s among new accessions is about half that suggested by their presence in the pool of newt-h.D.s. Their hiring rates, which vary considerably by field, most nearly correspond to availability in physics and mathematics. 35

TABLE 2.11 PROPORTION OF WOMEN AMONG NEW PH.D. HIRES: Proportion of women among Ph.D. scientists and engineers hired into the federal service between 1974 and 1978, and their percent availability among graduates during the same period. % Women among new Ph.D. hires 1974 - 1978 % Women among Ph.D.s awarded 1974 - 1978 Field of doctorate All science/engr. fields 8.3% 16. 82 Mathematicians/statisticians 9.2 11.7 Computer specialists 0.0 9.3 Physicists 4.0 4.9 Chemists 8.1 11.2 Other physical scientists 4.7 7.4 Engineers 1.3 1.9 Agricultural scientists 3.7 5.7 Bioscientists 11.3 23.4 Social scientists 15.5 26.8 Status of new hires Examining the new accessions by highest degree earned and years since degree, it is evident that a woman scientist is typically hired at a lower grade than a comparable male (Table 2.12). This was found at all degree levels and number of years since the degree was earned. Among Ph.D.s, the sex differences in starting salaries are slight, but for those six years or more past the doctorate, the differential grows to at least $2,400. 36

TABLE 2.12 MEDIAN GRADES AND MEDIAN SALARIES OF NEW HIRES: Median GS levels and salaries of scientists and engineers hired between 1974 and 1978 by highest degree earned, years since degree, and sex Highest degree earned Median grade 1978 Men Women Median salary, 1978 (full-time staff) Men Women Bachelor's/Master' s Years since: 0 1-2 3-5 6-10 6.4 8.0 10.4 11.4 12.5 6.0 6.8 9.1 10.8 11.1 $16,100 16,100 19,200 23,100 29,500 $13,700 13,800 16,000 19,800 23,400 Doctorate Years since: 0 11.3 * 19 , 800 * 1-2 11.7 11.6 23,400 23,200 3-5 12.2 12.0 25,100 23,900 6-10 12.9 12.5 29,800 27,400 >10 14.0 13.0 37,500 31,700 *Fewer than 20 women. Summary and Discussion The federal government is a relatively minor employer of scientists and engineers, and the difference between the proportions of male and female scientists in government employment is much smaller than in industry. Nonetheless the disparities found — in grade levels and therefore salaries — closely parallel those in industry, with one major exception. That is that the higher promotion rates for women in recent years give some evidence of explicit efforts at equalization. Of concern, however, is the continuing tendency to hire new women scientists at lower grade levels and salaries than men. While the extent of this practice has been reduced for recent doctorates, it is quite marked at the bachelor's and master's degree levels, which include the great majority of new hires. The imbalance created by the relative preponderance of women scientists at Grade 12 and below has increased since 1974. While the finding that women were promoted to managerial positions more rapidly in the last few years is evidence of efforts at equalization, the fact that men in the same age groups are still twice as likely as women to be managers illustrates the magnitude of the inequalities which remain. The available data do not identify causes for the sex differences. 37

For example, the analyses do not indicate to what extent the women scientists may have interrupted their careers in order to care for children and what impact this may have had on their long-term advancement in the government. A study of matched-pairs of men and women scientists in federal careers would offer the possibility of clarifying this issue. 38