Let's hear it for Texas
While I was traveling in Australia — where most hotels do not seem to have heard of the internet — I missed this rather heartwarming press release from the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
The center is launching an effort to "recruit, retain, and develop women faculty", led by Elizabeth Travis, the center's first associate vice president for women faculty programs.
About half of medical school students and graduate students are women but a 2006 study by the American Association of Medical Colleges easily shows the "leaky pipeline": women account for 15% of assistant professors, 6% of associate professors and only 4% of full professors. Women also make up just 10% of deans, department and division chairs.
The press release also cites research by Wayne State University linguists in 2003, which showed that the same resume gets a lower evaluation score when attached to a woman's name than when attached to a man's name.
The new program at Anderson aims to recognize those who support women faculty; help women build leadership skills and continue to collect data.
I must say it all sounds promising. I particularly like Travis' comments that all past efforts focused on helping women navigate the system. Rather than "fixing the women," she says, "we need to focus on fixing the academic environment instead."
Hear, hear!
Comments
One other thing to add to what Clare said...
If workplaces provided more daycare facilities, more women would show "allegiance" to their work, as you put it, Scott. It's only when women don't have the options and resources that would allow them to continue working that a lot of them are forced to take those career breaks.
Posted by: apoorva | August 23, 2007 03:12 PM
Scott and Gildardo, your comments highlight exactly why such measures are needed.
Scott: your statement that women have less allegiance to the workplace is no doubt illustrative of the erroneous assumptions that lead applications from women to receive lower scores from the men evaluating them.
Gildardo: why assume that women need be the sole educators? Fathers can and do take equal responsibility for raising their children.
The talented and driven women who are managing to have fulfilling and successful careers as well as raising children will find your comments ridiculous. By increasing the representation of women at the more senior positions, we can hope that people who share your opinions might one day become the minority group.
Posted by: clare thomas | August 15, 2007 05:51 AM
What everyone seems to miss is that females tend to have less allegiance to the workplace. They are more likely to take extended brakes in their careers, more likely to work less than full-time, and more likely to retire early.
And, of course, many more women than men take career breaks for rearing children than do men.
This accounts for much of the gender disparity.
Political correctness forces to ignore these facts and blame gender discrimination, etc.
Posted by: Scott S. | August 14, 2007 06:45 PM
call me whatever you want, but I can not understand why some people ask for total gender equity; because at least for working purposes, it is imposible to take out from women the role as mothers and educators, that nature asigned them;And certainly that role is a big time-energy consuming, even if it is part time, or just the missing of it, if it is absent.
Posted by: gildardo flores | August 12, 2007 08:16 PM