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Gender Imbalances in the Sciences

Caltech faculty reflects gender imbalance in sciences
By Kimm Groshong , Staff Writer

PASADENA -- Whether or not Harvard University President Lawrence Summers meant to suggest that women's brains are innately less suited than men's to study science and mathematics, comments he made this month along those lines have elicited a large and swift response.

Since then, much has been said about the lack of hard data to support the view that physical differences in men's and women's brains lead fewer women into the scientific arena.

And, as the New York Times has reported, "despite the desire for tidy and definitive answers to complex questions, researchers warn that the mere finding of a difference in form does not mean a difference in function or output inevitably follows.'

But if one puts physiological differences aside, the question remains why do fewer women than men pursue careers in math and science?

When academics get together to discuss that question as it relates to institutions of higher learning, they focus on "the pipeline,' said Anneila Sargent , a Caltech professor of astronomy.

They're not talking about an Oahu surfing locale, but rather the career route from the level of an undergraduate major in science to graduate student, postdoctoral research scholar, junior faculty member and finally, tenured faculty member.

"Why are women dropping out of the sciences?' Sargent asked. "It's something that we really, really feel we have to be worried about.'

Sargent chaired the Committee on the Status of Women Faculty at Caltech, formed in October 1999, which reported in December 2001 that "the proportion of women on the professorial faculty should be increased significantly.'

Since then, all six of Caltech's academic divisions have worked to pro-actively recruit female scientists for postdoctoral and faculty positions and to make women at all levels more aware of available resources.

But this year, the numbers look remarkably like they did when the committee originally collected its figures.

Today, women constitute 12 percent of the prestigious institute's 283 faculty members.

At the time of the report, that number stood at 11 percent.

But some at Caltech note that seeming stagnancy does not reflect the number of offers that have been made to women and turned down, nor the fact that some female faculty members have left while others have arrived.

"I think that there is a continued, slow but definite improvement,' said Alice Huang, a senior counselor in External Relations and an associate in biology at Caltech. "Women are much more visible here now. ... I know, for instance, that we now have many more women who hold named chairs.'

Nonetheless, the pipeline problem holds true at Caltech. Women make up more than 30 percent of the institute's undergraduate students. The numbers slowly drop off from there with women making up 28 percent of graduate students and about 23 percent of postdocs. And then there is a large plunge to 34 women in a pool of 283 faculty members.

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, females comprise 43 percent of undergraduates, 30 percent of grad students and 18 percent of the faculty.

During a May 2004 update on gender equity, President David Baltimore said that while Caltech was in line with peer institutions, progress in increasing female faculty was still slower than desired and continued to be a point of concern nationwide, according to his special assistant, Miriam Feldblum.

Erin Schuman, a professor and executive officer in neurobiology at Caltech and an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, said that in speaking with her female students, she has learned that many are worried about balancing intense careers like her own with family life.

"It's evident when I talk to people who have made the decision to leave the academic track' that this dilemma is weighing on them, she said. "A lot of them don't think it will be easy to be a competitive academic if they'd also like to have a family,' added Schuman, herself a mother of three.

Caltech has made strides to foster a feeling that help is available for studying and working parents.

Candace Rypisi, director of the Caltech Women's Center, said her organization supports "women's academic and professional success throughout the pipeline as well as supporting individual needs throughout campus.'

The center, often in conjunction with the Worklife office at Caltech, hosts workshops, discussions and lectures pertaining to subjects that affect women. It also sponsors several mentoring programs for women at different phases along the pipeline.

Rypisi said the balance of work and family "is absolutely an issue that our students are thinking about and trying to come to decisions about how they want their careers and lives to be. It helps that there are models of people on campus and nationally who have done it well.'

That's one way the small number of women faculty members may discourage students and scholars from remaining in science.

"If you see lots of people around you doing it, or people just above your station doing it, it seems much more attainable to you than if you feel you have to be out there forging some unknown territory,' Schuman explained.

Making the environment comfortable for women also includes ensuring equity of pay scales.

Huang, who originally began looking at women's issues at Caltech because she had noticed a discrepancy in pay for men and women at other institutions, said that discrepancy has significantly decreased at the institute since 1999.

"I think that for some people, there seems to be a small but consistent difference and they worry about that,' she said. "But compared to other institutions, I see that as inconsequential.'

And for the future, she said, "I think you need to continue to focus on the issue and make sure that there's no recidivism of any kind. Unless we continue to push hard on this effort, it's likely to just get forgotten.'

posted by Netwoman @ 9:35 AM