Equal Start, Less Equal Progress in Social Sciences

Inside Higher Ed
August 21, 2008

Women could be poised to assume “equal footing” in the social sciences, and are starting their academic careers at levels of equity with men, a new report finds. But at the same time, gaps in progress appear for women within 10 years of earning their Ph.D.’s — and women in the social sciences differ significantly from men in terms of the impact of work/family balance, the report finds.
“Finally Equal Footing for Women in Social Science Careers?,” by the University of Washington Center for Innovation and Research in Graduate Education, is based on data from “Social Science Ph.D.’s Five+ Years Out,” as well as from the Survey of Earned Doctorates. For purposes of the study, the disciplines covered were anthropology, communication, geography, history, political science and sociology. Economics, which was not included, generally has smaller proportions of women than do other social science fields.
Many disciplinary organizations have been analyzing the status of women in their fields, and this latest report is an attempt to broaden the discussion by looking at a group of disciplines together — and in particular to examine disciplines that have seen huge changes in the last generation in terms of gender participation. In 2005, women earned 45 percent of the Ph.D.’s awarded in the social sciences fields studied, up from 27 percent in 1980 and 10 percent in 1966. With women now a majority of new doctorates in fields such as anthropology, the report attempts to see how they are progressing in their careers.
Generally, the evidence is very positive for women — as their careers start. Women are slightly more likely than men to have their first jobs on the tenure track (42 percent vs. 40 percent) and slightly less likely than men to have faculty jobs off the tenure track (26 percent vs. 28 percent). But these figures reverse themselves 6 to 10 years after a Ph.D., at which point men are more likely to have tenure or jobs outside of academe (generally with higher salaries than those for professors) and women are more likely to have jobs off the tenure track. [To see the entire story, go to: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/08/21/socsci ]