Sexism in academia

Sexism in academia is the experience of sexism in an academic setting, usually higher education. There is controversy over the extent to which women being statistically under-represented in any specific academic field is the result of gender discrimination or other factors such as personal inclination.

Statistics

• "Half of all M.D. degrees are awarded to women (and an astounding 77 percent of veterinary medicine degrees); slightly more than half of the doctorates in the life sciences go to women today – that figure was 13 percent in 1970. But still (pace Larry Summers) women lag in the math-based sciences such as engineering." — Emily Yoffe, posted February 8, 2011

Controversy

Charges of discrimination against women

Kim Gandy, then-president of the National Organization for Women, said:

Summers' suggestion that women are inferior to men in their ability to excel at math and science is more than an example of personal sexism, it is a clue to why women have not been more fully accepted and integrated into the tenured faculty at Harvard since he has been president.

Rebuttal to discrimination charges

Stephen J. Ceci and Wendy M. Williams, of the Department of Human Development, Cornell University, wrote:

Women’s current underrepresentation in math-intensive fields is not caused by discrimination in these domains, but rather to sex differences in resources, abilities, and choices (whether free or constrained).

See also

• Gender inequality
• Gender pay gap
• Gender role
• Glass ceiling
• Old boy network, or male cronyism
• Sexism

Further reading

• "Gender bias alive and well in academia." Practical Neurology Feb. 2013: 66. Academic OneFile. Web. 10 May 2014.

External links

• "Nepotism and sexism in peer-review" at Nature (Journal)