NOT SO EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

ASEE Prism, Nov 2004 by Grose, Thomas K

RESEARCH

THERE ARE FOUR federal agencies that tend to fund academic research in the sciences and engineering: the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Education Department, and the Department of Energy. A recent study by the Government Accounting Office (GAO) found that only the Department of Education does all it can to ensure that grant recipients are in compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex discrimination at institutions that receive federal funds. All four agencies, the GAO said, investigated discrimination complaints and provided technical assistance to schools, but only Education regularly monitored grant recipients for compliance, as required by law. The GAO recommended that the other three agencies also regularly conduct compliance reviews.The report implies that a lack of robust enforcement of Title IX may help answer why women academics in science tend to earn less money and are promoted more slowly than their male colleagues. Experience, work patterns, and education are more significant reasons, it says, but "studies also suggest that discrimination may still affect women's choices and professional progress." Society of Women Engineers executive director Betty Shanahan welcomed the report, saying it "gives visibility to an issue that's important." -TG