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WOMEN IN SCIENCETarring the Balance and Measuring Productivity

Lesley RiggGeography and CLAS

Collaborators: Shannon McCarragher, Andrew Krmenec, Amy Levin, Jeff Reynolds, Brianno Coller and Chris McCord.

Funding: NSF ADVANCE IT-Catalyst Grant

"In this current 'age of feminism' it is a telling fact that the last time aa telling fact that the last time a woman won the Nobel prize in physics was 1963. Only two women have ever won science's most prestigious award."

Margaret Wertheim of ABC Australia

http://www.abc.net.au/science/features/

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Remarks at a Conference on Diversifying the Science & Engineering Workforce: 2005

Lawrence H. Summers, then, President of H d h h ’ i S&EHarvard on why there aren’t more women in S&E high-powered job hypothesis different availability of aptitude at the high end different socialization and patterns of discrimination

Nancy Hopkins, a biologist at MIT, walked out on Summers' talk saying later that if she hadn't left Summers talk, saying later that if she hadn t left, ''I would've either blacked out or thrown up”

MIT in 1999: A case study

A Quote from the President of MIT, Charles M. Vest; “Vest; I have always believed that contemporary gender

discrimination within universities is part reality and part perception. True, but I now understand that reality is by far the greater part of the balance.”

Conclusion from study;y; Gender discrimination is subtle but pervasive, and

it stems largely from unconscious ways of thinking that have been socialized into all of us, men and women alike.

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How long have women been scientists: as long as men

Great Website: 4000 Years of Women in Science: in Science:

http://www.astr.ua.edu/4000WS/4000WS.html

EN HEDU'ANNA circa 4000 BP

Maria Agnesi Mathematician 1718 – 1799

midwiferyBeatrix Potter1866-1943

Hedy Lemarr1913-2000

What does a scientist look like?

First day of class – 40 students responded Gender: male (26) Female (7) person (7) Gender: male (26), Female (7), person (7) Age: older or middle aged (13) Attire: lab coat (31), glasses (23) Mention of hair: (9), typically crazy, disheveled or white Equipment: microscope (3), glassware (17), bubbling or

smoking liquid (5), lab (11). Characteristics: pretty (1), tall (1), white (1), nerdy (1),

intelligent (3) Particular person named: five, including themselves, me

and Einstein.

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Changing Perceptions

Female Majors in selected disciplines at NIU (2003)

Female Students at NIU as a whole 52% (2007)

Bi l i l S i 56% Biological Sciences = 56%

Chemistry and Biochemistry = 49.6%

Geography BS Met = 40%

BS Geog = 39%S Geog 39%

BA Geog = 50%

Geology = 42%

Physics = 25%

Source: NSF 2006, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, Completions Survey, 1966-2004

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Mentoring Graduate Students

534749

8362

56 5562

585060708090

100

cen

t

13

4047

2931 2716

01020304050

Psycho

logy

Englis

h

Chemist

ry

Histor

y

Biolog

ical S

cience

s

Math

emati

cal S

cienc

es

Politic

al Sc

ience

Econo

mics

Geolog

y

Curric

ulum an

d Ins

tructi

on

Educa

tiona

l Psyc

holog

y

Adult a

nd H

igher

Educa

tion

Couns

eling

Educa

tiona

l Adm

inistr

ation

Instr

uctio

nal T

echn

ology

Program Major

Per

c

Proportion of Female and Male Professors in the Sciences, by Rank at NIU (2007)

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“The Productivity Puzzle”(Cole & Zuckerman)

Men publish and are cited more than women

B t 1992 t d h d th t it d But a 1992 study showed that women are cited more per paper then men The implication is that women’s papers are utilized more by

the scientific community

Why? Some studies suggest that women are “less strategic” and

maybe more insecure, therefore each paper is more substantial

Barriers to Productivity

1998 study by Xie and Shauman (2004 book!)W l lik l t k i h i tit tiWomen are less likely to work in research institutions

Women spend more time teaching

Women are less likely to secure research funding and research assistance

Married scientists publish more - women scientists are less likely to be married than male scientists

# f d d # f d d

0102030405060

0 1 2 3 4 5+

# of courses per year

# of undergrad courses: STEM

Female

Male0

102030405060

0 1 2 3 4 5+

# of courses per year

# of undergrad courses: non-STEM

Female

Male

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In Science

Publication productivity is essential for two important reasons: easo s 1) research findings are disseminated through publication,

and therefore equates to the social process (the way scientists become aware of each other’s work)

2) productivity is associated with higher rank and other forms of institutional merit 80

No

0

20

40

60

Female Male Female Male

STEM non STEM

No

yesHas your research

been supported by a grant in the past 2

years?

In Geography

Brunn (2009): three reasons for Geographers to p blish STEMpublish: 1) institutional expectations

2) the pure joy of it

3) tenure and promotion

$ amount of external grants

# of external grants

# of national/international conference presentations

# of monographs

Prestige of publication outlet

# of articles published

STEM

Male

Female

4th suggestion; the need to mentor students and early career faculty

in writing, collaboration, and publishing

0 10 20 30 40

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The need for mentoring

• Babbit et al. (2008) reported on the success of geography h d f

very high level

PhD students 5 years from graduation

• 60% stated that writing and publishing was an important skill

• BUT < 30% reported receiving excellent training in their PhD

low level

medium level

high level

Male non-STEM

Male STEM

Female non-

programs • students desire a higher quality

of training in collaboration, teamwork, writing, and publishing

0 20 40 60

not productive

Female nonSTEM

Female STEM

How do you think you department views your research productivity compared to the departmental average?

AAG Membership (1980–2008)

The proportion of total AAG membership that is female (dark line) and the proportion of female members in university or college positions (grey line). Percentage of female first authors in the Annals (dashed line).

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Increasing trend towards collaboration

2.6

1.6

1.8

2

2.2

2.4

e #

aut

hors

per

pap

er

Annals

PG

1

1.2

1.4

19

95

19

96

19

97

19

98

19

99

20

00

20

01

20

02

20

03

20

04

20

05

20

06

20

07

20

08

20

09

aver

ag e

Physical scientists are more collaborative

0.90single

0.30

0.40

0.50

0.60

0.70

0.80

opor

tion

auth

orsh

ip

single

multiple

0.00

0.10

0.20

Annals E Sci MM&GIS N&S PP&R

pr

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Two Key Geography Journals

0 100

0.200

0.300

0.400

0.500

0.600

0.700

opor

tion

auth

orsh

ip Annals PG

0.000

0.100

M Multiple M

MF F Multiple F FM

pro

Theory of Cumulative Disadvantages

• The literature supports the theory of cumulative disadvantage

405060

Female Male

• studies show that within a broad variety of departments;

• women are less likely than men to report that they are taken seriously by peers

• less likely to feel comfortable speaking freely

010203040

speaking freely • less likely to collaborate with male

faculty or male graduate students • intellectual and social isolation affect

research productivity and contribute to difficulties in tenure and promotion

I feel isolated in my Department

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Respect and Agency at NIU

I feel like a full and equal participant in the decision-making in my department

I am included in informal networks in my departmentg y p y p

neither agree nor disagree

agree

strongly agree

Male non-STEM

neither agree nor disagree

agree

strongly agree

Male non-STEM

0 20 40 60 80

strongly disagree

disagreeMale STEM

Female non-STEM

Female STEM

0 20 40 60 80

strongly disagree

disagree Male STEM

Female non-STEM

Female STEM

Percentage of respondents by gender within each categorySTEM males n = 30 STEM females n = 10

Non-STEM males n = 33 Non-STEM females n = 35

Quantity versus Quality

• There is much debate over the issue of quantity vs. quality when it comes

dto assessing productivity

• the continued use of quantitative data in the assessment of productivity is not a legitimate

• this approach perpetuates the t tit ti it t present quantitative merit system

used by universities

• It encourages quantity over quality in research.

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Journal % M % F % MM % FF % MF % FMTransactions of the Institute of British Geographers 3.967 44 8 40 4 0 4

Progress in Human Geography 3.482 44 20 28 4 4 0

Progress in Physical Geography 3.01 24 12 56 0 8 0

Economic Geography 2.986 40 24 24 4 8 0Annals of the Association of American Geographers 2.679 52 8 20 4 8 8

Geographical Analysis 2.564 44 4 44 0 4 4

Landscape Ecology 2.453 24 4 36 0 20 16

Political Geography 2.295 60 16 16 0 8 0

Landuse and Urban Planning 1.953 36 16 32 0 8 8

E i t d Pl i D 1 807 48 32 12 8 0 0Environment and Planning D 1.807 48 32 12 8 0 0

Professional Geographer 1.714 24 28 24 4 8 12

IJGIS 1.596 28 0 40 0 24 8

Social and Cultural Geography 1.484 40 28 12 8 4 8

Physical Geography 0.613 16 4 40 4 8 28

Geographical Review 0.467 64 12 8 4 12 0

Citations

The mean citation proportion for each authorship/collaboration category (M, F, MM, FF, MF, FM) for the top 25 most cited articles averaged across the 15 journals. Single-authored articles (S) and collaborative efforts (C) are also presented. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals.

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Any Questions?

• No Summary or Conclusions yet!