To mend the ever-present rift between men and women in the professional academic fields of higher education, Princeton University may spend millions on an initiative to stamp out the problem.
Such plans surfaced after the university issued a report earlier this week pointing out the disproportionate number of men to women in the university’s science and engineering fields. The report also noted that female faculty members in these fields are not as satisfied with their work as their male counterparts.
The current percentage of women faculty members at Princeton’s science and engineering fields is 13.9 percent, which marks a nearly 6 percent increase from 1992 to 2002. At the same time, four departments saw no increases, and the molecular biology department saw a decline in female employees.
In addition, only two of the university’s 14 science and engineering departments have more than 20 percent female employees, and the report found few women in leadership positions.
The report is one of many measures taken by a group that first coalesced at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2001. The nine research universities who make up the coalition have been working to improve the working conditions of women in the sciences ever since, resulting in the formation of the Task Force on the Status of Women Faculty in the Sciences and Engineering.
Virginia Zakian, Princeton professor of molecular biology, has worked with the group in the past and is encouraged by the steps the university is taking to shoulder the problems.
“There has been some progress. That’s good news for the university,” she said, but nonetheless added that, “We’d like to see a more committed effort to improve those numbers.”
Zakian is pleased with other figures the study found, which were drawn from responses by professors in the science and engineering fields. In addition, salaries, hiring records and tenure rates of men and women were analyzed.
As Zakian noted, salaries for tenured professors were equal among the genders.
Such findings reflect similar issues at universities around the nation, Zakian said, with some institutions facing greater disproportions than others. She noted that while the coalition is composed of various types of colleges, they still have common gender-inequality issues.
“It’s remarkable how similar the findings are. The fact that they’re coming up with similar sets of problems is very interesting,” she said.
Jo C. Scheder, a University of Wisconsin senior lecturer of rural sociology and human development and family studies, said despite recent progress, gender disproportions, especially in the sciences, still exist.
“That’s really a national, long-standing thing. Some places have addressed it, and some places have tried to address it,” she said, adding that after “decades of pattern,” it takes time to completely dispel the issue. “Aside from basic moral qualities, what a waste of talent,” Scheder said.
Both Zakian and Scheder noted that leaving women out of the science and engineering fields is not only wrong but also inefficient.
“I must say it’s just the right thing to do. The time has come. We shouldn’t be under-utilizing any group of society,” Zakian said.
With Princeton considering allotting $10 million to the cause, Zakian is confident that inequalities will soon diminish.
As of now, the panel is pushing Princeton to expand on-campus daycare facilities and working to promote spousal-working conditions. In addition, Princeton recently appointed a new administrator to cover gender-equity issues, Princeton professor Joan S. Girgus.
