Re: [Phys-l] Women Earn 46% of Undergraduate Math Degrees but Represent Only 8% of Math Professors ??

["John Clement" <clement@hal-pc.org>]

The statement quoted certainly does not allow one to draw firm conclusions
other than there is a disparity.

It could be that there is a significant delay between the education and the
appointment of professors.  This is probably part of the problem.  Many of
the positions were filled years ago during the Sputnik era and new positions
may be sparse since then.  There is also the possibility that there are
different goals.  But remember that at one time most MDs were men because
women were denied and discouraged application to medical school.  Their
motives were disparaged.  Women were told they weren't wanted because they
would be too concerned with family and would not be capable of such a
career.  Also because of this type of thing, most nurses tend to be women.
Most elementary teachers are women.  The states with low pay scales tend to
have more women than men teaching HS.  Do women really want lower pay?

The motive argument is certainly one to look at, but first we need to
examine the barriers.  If the motive argument is advanced first, it is seen
as a put down of women.  For example there is the APS meeting at which a
paper reported that a reformed physics class increased the MCAT scores of
women without decreasing the scores of men.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX


> > As reported by Rick Reis (2006) in Tomorrow's Professor, Message
> > #717, "Proof and Prejudice: Women in Mathematics," Lisa Trie (2006)
> > in the "Stanford Report of 15 February 2006 wrote:
> >
> > "According to [Londa] Schiebinger, women earn 46 percent of
> > undergraduate math degrees in this country but represent only 8
> > percent of math professors."
>
> What are we supposed to ascertain from this?
>
> Should we assume that women and men are "equal" in some way -- that
> women have the same thinking as men -- that they have the same goals
> and values -- and that there should be an equivalent number of female
> professors -- so something must be wrong in these cases?
>
> Or should we realize that women have better sense than to go into
> education -- that they have different goals and values than men?