Climbing the Ladder An Update on the Status of Doctoral Women Scientists and Engineers (1983) / Chapter Skim
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CHAPTER 1 FACTORS AFFECTING THE SUPPLY OF DOCTORAL
CHAPTER 1 FACTORS AFFECTING THE SUPPLY OF DOCTORAL
Pages 1-15
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From page 1... ...
Historically, this quite obvious generalization has been seen as valid for men, leading especially in the sciences -in the period following World War II to the creation of an elaborate system of educational and career support opportunities (pre- and postdoctoral fellowships, career service awards, research support, eta ~ predicated on two assumptions: 1) that whatever scientific talent exists initially must be nurtured by enhancing appropriate opportunities, and 2)
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Such an assumption has the advantage of enabling us to interpret rationally the recent trends of steeply increasing participation of women in science as a normal and expected response to expanding opportunities, rather than having to postulate a dramatic, fundamental shift in female psychology occurring in the 1970s. In the remainder of this chapter we examine evidence relating to cognitive ability, opportunities for access to science careers, and how the interactions between them may affect men and women differently.
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The information in the literature that bears on sex differences in scientific ability is restricted largely to aspects of mathematical ability, which are used as a proxy measure. The connections between such discrete factors as spatial visualization, abstract reasoning, or analytical ability (which have been tested)
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have examined the possibilities of sex bias inherent in a variety of standardized tests, primarily in terms of either content bias or psychometric bias. Such types of bias have not been demonstrated conclusively, and Lockheed concludes that the differences in scores represent real sex differentiation · · .
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From page 5... ...
This ratio also has the characteristic that it approaches unity as the sex distributions converge, and thus constitutes an accurate measure, termed "parity index," of the relative interests of college men and women in a given field at a particular time.) Parity indices for female participation in selected broad fields of college science are given in Table 1.1.
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From page 7... ...
These opposite trends in field distributions for women obviously do not reflect a simple trade-off, but rather some very broad shifts in both expanding options and interests of women students. These measures demonstrate a real growth of interest in science fields among women beyond the increases deriving simply from the fact that the proportion of total baccalaureates earned by women has grown by about 13 percent over the decade.
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1 63 ~ 6 1 ~ 35 76 ~ 4 1 ~ 62 72 ~ S 1 ~ 54 1980 49 ~ 0 ~~ 75 ~ 9 1.55 73 ~ 2 1.49 a. PI = Women BAs in f ield ~ o f all BAs to Women Source: Compiled from National Center for Education Statistics data.
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From page 9... ...
3 38.5 31.8 33.0 a Derived from statistics published in National Norms for Entering College Freshmen, Fall 1968, American Council on Education. As reported in the series Earned Degrees Conferred, 1~.V.~.
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One useful way of measuring suspected attrition is shown in Table 1.2, which compares the percent women among probable majors of entering college freshmen in 1968-69 with baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral degrees earned at appropriate subsequent intervals. Some field differences are apparent at once in the persistence rate through college: prospective majors in social sciences suffer a large decline by graduation, and a modest decline occurs in both mathematics and biological sciences, while the physical sciences and agriculture actually show a relative gain.
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From page 11... ...
With reference to the relevant baccalaureate pool at a field-specific appropriate earlier time (PI2) , however, a somewhat different picture emerges, comparable to the persistence rates discussed aboveO Women baccalaureates in mathematics were only about one-quarter as likely as their male colleagues to proceed to a doctorate and in psychology that probability was 60 percent, with the other fields falling between these extremes.
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~ Percent wome -- n Ph.D.s in all fields bp _ Percent women- Ph.D.s in field In - _ Percent women BAs in field y years earlier where y = 6 years for physical sciences = 7 years for biological sciences = 8 years for mathematics and psychology Bracketed figures indicate percentages based on absolute numbers of Ph.D. below 100, where indices become very unstable due to fluctuations.
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From page 13... ...
AS a result of this subsidy, higher education became accessible to men with the requisite ability regardless of their economic status, while women had to continue to finance their own education, thus in effect restricting the numbers who could attend college. This situation was exacerbated by the common practice of awarding women less financial aid from institutional sources as well; as late as 1969-70, institutionallyadministered grants to male college students averaged $671 and those to women only $515 (Haven and Horch, 1972)
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pools in the future. If we assume that the rates at which women perceive science fields to offer an equitably rewarding future do not change from the 1980 levels, we would expect about 18 percent women doctorates in physical sciences in 1986 and about 40 percent in biosciences in 1987, but only 14 percent in mathematics by 1988.
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From page 15... ...
The necessity for equal science and mathematics education of girls and boys throughout the school years cannot be overemphasized, and school science programs must insure that girls participate equally with boys. There are a number of programs aimed at female high school students, and their teachers and counselors, conducted on a local or regional basis, that have had positive results in encouraging interest in mathematics and providing career information.
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