Despite Efforts to Close Gender Gaps, Some Disciplines Remain Lopsided

Autor/in	Mangan, Katherine
Titel	Despite Efforts to Close Gender Gaps, Some Disciplines Remain Lopsided
Quelle	In: Chronicle of Higher Education, (2012) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0009-5982
Schlagwörter	Females; Spatial Ability; Majors (Students); Gender Discrimination; Health Occupations; Doctoral Degrees; Sex Fairness; Equal Education; Womens Education; Undergraduate Study; STEM Education; Social Bias; Teacher Salaries; Role Models; Mentors + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Weibliches Geschlecht; Räumliches Vorstellungsvermögen; Gesundheitsberuf; Doctoral degree; Doktorgrad; Sexualaufklärung; 'Women''s education'; Frauenbildung; Grundstudium; STEM; Lehrerbesoldung; Lehrervergütung; Identifikationsfigur
Abstract	Engineering and teaching are among the most lopsided disciplines in academe's gender split. In 2010, women received 80 percent of the undergraduate degrees awarded in education, the U.S. Education Department reports. And they earned 77 percent of the master's and 67 percent of the doctoral degrees in that field. In engineering, by contrast, women earned just 18 percent of undergraduate, 22 percent of master's, and 23 percent of doctoral degrees. Nationally, women are heading to college in record numbers and now make up 57 percent of undergraduates. Women also earn 60 percent of all master's and 52 percent of all doctoral degrees, according to U.S. Education Department statistics, which include doctorates earned in professional fields like medicine and dentistry. But for all the efforts colleges are making to diversify their departments, some fields of study remain stubbornly single sex. At the undergraduate level, some of the most female-intensive disciplines are in health professions and related clinical sciences, where women make up 85 percent of the majors; in psychology, where 77 percent of majors are women; and in English and foreign languages, with 68 and 69 percent women. Among the more male-dominated fields for undergraduate majors are philosophy and religious studies, at 63 percent, and mathematics, at 57 percent. Perhaps nowhere has the gender gap been more pronounced, or more studied, than in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics--the STEM fields. Women are still a minority in those fields despite more than a decade of outreach. Researchers at Rice University found that both male and female scientists view gender discrimination as a factor in women's decisions not to pursue a science career or to opt for biology over physics. Not surprisingly, the gender distribution of professors in the STEM disciplines is similarly skewed. Many still view science and math as male fields and humanities and art as female. Boys and men tend to score higher in spatial skills that are important in fields like engineering, but with the right support and exposure, girls can be just as successful. The problem is, they often don't get that encouragement. There are fewer role models and mentors in traditionally male fields, and even academics who profess to support women often harbor hidden biases. For schools of education, the problem is attracting men. Low teacher salaries are the most common explanation for gender imbalance. Men might also be discouraged by the diminishing status of teachers and the suspicion that many people have about the motives of men working with children. (ERIC).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10