Beyond the Degree: Where Are Women Scientists, and How Are They Doing?

On Campus with Women, Fall, 2008 by Judy Touchton

According to the National Science Foundation (2007), women's representation among PhD earners in science and engineering (S&E) is higher than ever, although progress has not been uniform across disciplines. In 2005, women (U.S. citizens and students with visas) earned more than half (68 percent) of all doctorates in psychology, almost half (45 percent) in social sciences, and about one-third (34 percent) in earth, atmospheric, and oceanic sciences. But in other S&E fields, women's share of doctorates is lower: women received 27 percent of doctoral degrees in mathematics and statistics, 27 percent in physical sciences, 27 percent in astronomy, chemistry, and physics, 20 percent in computer sciences, and 18 percent in engineering (NSF 2007). These women enter the workforce with a range of professional opportunities from academe to industry. But what is happening in science and engineering beyond the degree, once women have obtained PhDs and entered the job market? Where are women doctorates employed, how well are they compensated, and how do outside considerations (such as family circumstances) affect their careers?

Employment Sector Differences

In 2003, across all educational levels, women constituted about 7.6 million of the total 18 million scientists employed in S&E, S&E-related, and non-S&E occupations (NSF 2007 Table H-19). In broad terms, women were 34 percent of scientists, 11 percent of engineers, 55 percent of workers in S&E-related occupations, and 43 percent of workers in non-S&E occupations (NSF 2007 Table H-19). These women were most likely to work in education, government, and nonprofit organizations and less likely to be in business and industry or self-employed (NSF 2007 Table H-19).

A 2008 study by Joan Burrelli for the National Science Foundation (NSF) examines employment sector differences from 1973-2006 for women and men with doctorates in science, engineering, and health. Drawing on the NSF Survey of Doctoral Recipients, Burrelli reports that in 2006, slightly more than half (52 percent) of all women science doctorates worked in higher education, compared to 19 percent in business or industry, 10 percent in government, and 16 percent in other fields (including K-12 education, nonprofit organizations, or self-employment). Men's employment concentrations were similarly ranked, although men were more likely than women to be working in business and industry (Burrelli 2008 Table 2).

To some extent, these differences reflect variations in fields of study. In physical sciences, for example, women doctorates were employed in business and industry in the same proportion as men (about 42 percent). Meanwhile, greater discrepancy appears in computer science, where 47 percent of men and 27 percent of women with doctoral degrees enter the business and industry sector. Across all other S&E fields in 2006, a smaller percentage of women than men tended to enter the business and industry sectors (see Figure 1) (Burrelli 2008 Table 3).

Levels of Success within Employment Sectors

In academe, women's share of full-time tenured or tenure-track S&E faculty positions has increased slowly but steadily, from slightly less than 10 percent in 1979 to 28 percent in 2006, with distributions varying considerably by field (see Figure 2) (Burrelli 2008 Table 5). Women are more likely to be assistant (42 percent) and associate (34 percent) professors than full professors, where women hold only 19 percent of jobs (a considerable increase over the 5 percent of these positions women held in 1973) (Burrelli 2008 Table 5). This pattern indicates a need for continued focused efforts to enable women to move up the career ladder in the sciences (Burrelli 2008 Table 5).

Meanwhile, the gender composition of S&E faculty varies considerably by institutional type and location. Women in tenure and tenure-track S&E positions are most likely to be found in medical schools and medical centers, where in 2003 they constituted one-third (33 percent) of total faculty (Burrelli 2008 Table 6). Most of these women were located at the assistant professor and instructor level (AAMC 2003 Table 9). Women are least likely to be found in research universities, where in 2003 they were less than one in four faculty members (23 percent) (Burrelli 2008 Table 6). Combining all institutional types, male doctoral S&E faculty outnumber female S&E faculty by more than two to one (Burrelli 2008 Table 6).

In nonacademic S&E positions, college-educated women are less well represented than in the workforce at large: in 2005, 26 percent of college-degreed persons in nonacademic S&E occupations were women, compared to 47 percent of the college-degreed workforce (NSF 2008). Women held a higher proportion of doctoral-level nonacademic S&E occupations in comparison: in 2005 they constituted 31 percent of this occupational group, up from 23 percent in 1990 (NSF 2008).

In the government sector, managerial status presents one indicator of career success. On average, 35 percent of women and 44 percent of men across all age groups were managers in 2003 (NSF 2008 Table H-32). Interesting differences appeared by age group: among those younger than 35 years old, 26 percent of women and 37 percent of men had become managers. Between the ages of 35-44 the gender gap almost closed, with 39 percent of women and 41 percent of men being managers. After age 45, however, the gap increased to 10 percentage points for ages 45-54 and 15 percentage points for those 55 or older.