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| This graph shows the fraction of U.S. doctoral degrees awarded to women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. The data include both U.S. citizens/residents and temporary residents. Source: IPEDS and APS. |
The National Science Foundation released a report this month with the headline “Number of Women with U.S. Doctorates in Science, Engineering, or Health Employed in the United States More Than Doubles since 1997.” The editors of the AASWOMEN Newsletter decided to take a closer look at the numbers and unpack this title to see where women stand in the science, engineering, or health (SEH) doctorate landscape. The short answer: employed women with PhDs are generally still in the minority.
Table 2 of the article reports the data by “broad occupation and sex”. In this table, the actual numbers of “employed U.S.-trained SEH doctorate holders residing in the United States” in both 1997 and 2017 are compared to each other. In short, the percentage of all female PhDs employed in science and engineering (S&E) occupations increased by 10.8% between 1997 and 2017.
- Females with PhDs in biological, agricultural and other life sciences showing the greatest gain (14%).
- Females with PhDs employed in the physical and related sciences rose by 10.7%.
- Females with PhDs employed as computer scientists saw the smallest gain (4%).
Other occupations tell a more promising story. The percentage of employed females with PhDs in S&E related occupations (e.g., health-related occupations, S&E managers, S&E pre-college teachers, and S&E technicians and technologists) rose by 16.5%, with social scientists close behind (16.4%). The percentage of those with PhDs employed as psychologists rose by 12.5%, and women now make up almost 60% of all psychologists, outnumbering the men. According to the article, “female early career doctorate holders were more likely than their comparison group of men to report professional services (e.g., health care, counseling, financial services, legal services) as their primary work activity (12% versus 6%, [Table 4]). Some of these differences in primary work activities between men and women, regardless of career stage, may be associated with differences in their broad occupational categories and sectors of employment.”
Table 4, which shows primary work activities, is also interesting. Women report that they are employed in about one-third of all research and development work in 2017, compared to just one-fifth in 1997. Women are also gaining in the areas of teaching: Men used to hold more teaching positions than women, and the numbers are closer now. Whether or not this translates to tenure-track positions is unknown, but unlikely. According to data compiled by the Chronicle of Higher Education on faculty pay in 2017, women still make up a majority of assistant professors, instructors, and lecturers. Overall, between 1998 and 2016 the number of full-time faculty at postsecondary institutions increased by 38% while the number of part-time faculty increased by 74% between 1998 and 2011, then decreased by 4% between 2011 and 2016. Between 1975 and 2011, part-time faculty went from being 30% of faculty to 51% while full-time tenure and tenure-track faculty saw a 16% and 11% decrease over the same time. A 2009 survey by the National Center for Education Statistics reported that women make up 51% of all adjunct faculty, while a smaller survey (N~20,000) conducted by an adjunct group called the Coalition on the Academic Workforce put the proportion of female adjunct faculty at closer to 61%. So not only are institutions relying more heavily on part-time faculty, it’s possible that women are also more likely to be given those part-time positions.
Despite the gains in S&E PhD employment for women, significant as they are, the percentage of those with PhDs employed in non-S&E occupations rose by 17.5%, more than all of the S&E occupations, related or actual.
We recognize that an increase in the number of women with SEH doctorates employed in the U.S. is progress, but that doesn’t mean our work is done. Women still do not hold as many management positions as men and they make up a larger portion of part-time and non-tenured populations. A shift in culture is necessary to make places of employment more welcoming and supportive of working women including, but not limited to better parental leave policies, changing the assumption that duties requiring “soft skills” are better handled by women, institutions taking steps to eliminate bias in their hiring process, and promoting women to more senior positions. The APS also showed that although the number of women earning doctorates in the sciences was steadily increasing between 1975 and 2009, its leveled off since. We hope that these numbers will encourage institutions to continue to work towards equity and inclusivity until the barriers that prevent women and people diverse in gender, race, sexuality, and ability from making their contributions to SEH fields.
The AASWomen Editors thank Rick Fienberg, AAS Press Officer, for bringing this article to our attention.
