Gender gap for tenured profs wide, study says

By Chris O'Connell

A recent research study from the Harvard Graduate School of Education stated that women are, on average, far less likely to become full professors at major research universities.

Compiled by Cathy Trower, a senior researcher at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the report states that such problems are the result of institutions not changing with the speed of national social movements.

"The sharp difference between men and women in achieving tenure and becoming full professors is related to the fact that too many university departments remain islands of 19th-century academic culture in a frothing sea of 21st-century social change," Trower stated in the report.

The survey, released earlier this month, states that the national percentage of female professors with tenure compared to male professors with tenure has remained unequal and unchanged since the 1970s, despite the fact that women are earning nearly 20 percent more doctorates. In the 1970s, women earned 21 percent of all doctorates awarded, compared to 39 percent in the 1990s.

According to the report, women now hold 35 percent of the full-time faculty positions in the United States, but at the top 20 research universities, that percentage falls to 26 percent.

Although Santa Clara is a small, private institution, gender equality is still a topic of interest.

"Gender issues are always a concern to a university," Provost Denise Carmody said, who also noted that she believes female professors are satisfied at Santa Clara.

"We adhere to all the legal requirements in hiring and promoting faculty," Carmody said. "Morally, we are committed to nondiscrimination and fairness. We have an Office of Affirmative Action if someone feels he or she has a complaint. There are other avenues for voicing concerns and getting resolution: department chairs, deans, the provost, the president, as well as Grievance Committees and the Office of Human Resources."

According to Santa Clara's Institutional Research Department, as of late 2003, there were a total of 427 full time faculty members, 157 of which are women. This figure places Santa Clara on par with the nation's average of 37 percent female faculty. There is a larger inequality between male and female tenured professors at Santa Clara, though, as women make up 29 percent (73 in total) of the 248 tenured professors.

Carmody said one of the reasons for the disparity is that historically, women received fewer Ph.D.s than men and thus were not hired by universities in the same numbers as men.

"We still are playing catch up," Carmody said. However, currently 35 of the 87 tenure track professors are women, which is an 11 percent jump from the current tenured faculty.

Although there are more full time male professors at Santa Clara, non-tenure track female professors outnumber male instructors by six.

Jonathan Hunt, a lecture professor in the English department, said he believes the inequality is not the result of sexism. He said the situation is complicated in that because a majority of the established tenured professors are male, female professors seeking tenure may have difficulty finding a female mentor, leading to what he called an "institutional inertia."

Some female professors don't necessarily feel the gap, however.

"There are very few times I've been unhappy at Santa Clara," said Kathleen Maxwell, associate professor in the art history department. She did say, however, that Santa Clara's older faculty may contribute to the uneven gender ratio.

But do students sense a disparity?

"I don't feel that the quality of my education would be changed by the gender of my professor," said Viktoria Bregman, a senior economics major. Bregman said she has not had any female professors except in her core and elective courses. Bregman, who studied at Boston University her freshman year, said that the majority of her classes in Boston were also taught by men.

û Contact Chris O'Connell at (408) 554-4546 or coconnell@scu.edu.