Date: Wed, 09 Jun 1999 12:41:38 -0500 (EST)
Subject: CSWA Newsletter of 6/9/99
To: AASMAIL:;;
wellesley.edu
AAS Committee on the Status of Women
weekly issues of 6/09/99, ed. by Priscilla Benson
*** send email and addresses to aaswomenwellesley.edu ***
This week's issues:
1. CSWA in Chicago
2. Washington babysitting info?
3. Women Scientists Prefer Industry to Academia
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1. CSWA in Chicago
The open CSWA meeting at the Chicago AAS was on the topic
of: Women Faculty in the Sciences: How Are We Doing? Our
keynote speaker was Dr. Carolyn Narasimhan, Associate Dean
of DePaul University. She gave some statistics from the
1998 NSF "Women, Minorities and Persons with Disabilities in
Science and Engineering" which show the following:
% Women in 1975 % Women in 1993
Bachelors Degree ~ 20 ~ 35
PhD < 10 ~ 18
Jr. Faculty < 10 < 25
Sr. Faculty < 5 ~ 6
Unfortunately, the only statistics which have separated out
astronomy from other physical sciences are for graduate
students. The American Mathematical Society has gathered
statistics on women in mathematics regularly since 1957.
These include data on enrollments, majors, faculty size and
composition, faculty salaries, and new doctoral recipients.
Three recommended studies on the issues include:
"Talking About Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the
Sciences" by Elaine Seymour and Nancy Hewitt (1977)
"Gender Differences in Science Careers: The Project Access
Study" by Gerhard Sonnert and Gerald Holton (1995)
"A Study on the Status of Women Faculty in Scinece at MIT"
(1999) (Read about this study in the current issue of
Status. If you don't already subscribe, email
lscholzaas.org to receive a copy and/or be added to the
subscription list)
Meg Urry then gave a brief report on the statistics gathered
on astronomy by the Space Telescope Science Institute in
1992 and 1999 from 32 select graduate departments and four
major astronomy centers. The number of astronomers at all
levels has increased by about 25% over the seven years, and
the percent of women at each level has increased slightly.
However, the number of male postdocs at these select
institutions in 1999 is 60%(+/- 4%) of the number of male
graduate students in 1992, whereas the number female
postdocs in 1999 is 51% (+/- 7%)of the number of 1992 female
graduate students; this slightly underestimates the
discrepancy because the numbers of women graduate students
have increased over the last 7 years. The ratios of postdoc
to graduate student at a single epoch shows a larger
discrepancy with gender: in 1999 the ratio for men is 359
postdocs to 615 graduate students (58% +/- 4%), compared to
90:217 (41% +/- 5%) for women. This is similar to 1992,
when the ratio was 50% for men and 36% for women (with
similar uncertainties). The limited STScI statistics thus
suggest that women are still not progressing equally with
men. Preliminary results from an AAS survey of a much
broader range of institutions this spring are in line with
the STScI data.
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2. Washington babysitting info?
From: Preethi Pratap preethihaystack.mit.edu
I have to go for a meeting at the NSF in July. I was
wondering if someone who used the childcare at the AAS
meeting in January 1998 (in DC) can help me find the name of
the company and tell me a little about their experience. I
seem to remember it was some professional childcare agency.
Thanks!
Preethi Pratap
pprataphaystack.mit.edu
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3. Women Scientists Prefer Industry to Academia
From: IN%"infocatalystwomen.org"
Monica Blaizgis/Debbie Zarlin (212) 514-7600
CATALYST STUDY FINDS WOMEN SCIENTISTS ATTRACTED TO CAREERS
IN INDUSTRY OVER ACADEMIA COMPANIES CAN DO BETTER AT
RECRUITING WOMEN SCIENTISTS
New York City, June 9, 1999-American industry eagerly seeks
scientists to hire yet companies have a virtually unmined
talent pool of women to draw from, according to a new study
released today by Catalyst. Women Scientists in Industry:
Making It in Both Management and Technical Roles, based on
in-depth interviews with 30 leading women scientists, finds
that over half-17 out of 30-report that they were given
little or no information about the corporate job market for
industrial science careers. Nearly a third of the women
scientists in the study (9 out of 30) chose the business
sector not because they were recruited into it, but because
they did not feel welcomed into academia. Catalyst finds
that these women were attracted to applied science and
product development.
"Companies need to do a better job of marketing themselves
to the next generation of women scientists. One way to do
that is to build stronger relationships between universities
and corporations," said Sheila Wellington, Catalyst
President. Between 1975 and 1995, the percent of total
science doctorates earned by women nearly doubled, from 16
to 31 percent (U.S. National Science Foundation, 1995). "As
this trend continues and accelerates in the next century,
the imperative for business to recruit, retain, and advance
talented women scientists becomes increasingly evident,"
Wellington continued. "But companies seem to have scant
knowledge about recruiting and retaining this highly
marketable talent pool."
Profile of Women Scientists-All the women (30) in the study
are employed in industry. Sixteen are vice president or
higher in their companies; six are directors; six are
project managers; and two are fellows. The majority of women
in the study are on the management track, as opposed to the
technical one.
Barriers to Advancement-Like other groups of women in
business that Catalyst has studied, women scientists do face
organizational barriers to advancement. These include an
absence of female role models; an absence of mentors; lack
of line experience; isolation; exclusion from informal
networks; stereotypes and preconceptions; style differences;
risk-averse supervisors; and work/life balance. Twenty-seven
of the 30 women in this study report that they had to
struggle against the perception that science was a male
pursuit.
Success Strategies-Catalyst's study of women scientists
surfaced the following strategies for getting ahead:
cultivating technical expertise; developing a successful
style; obtaining stretch assignments; having a mentor;
networking both inside and outside the company.
Recommendations-The Catalyst study provides recommendations
for companies and individual women. Recommendations
headlining the list for companies emphasize recruitment-
focusing on increasing the visibility of careers in business
for women in science and creating win-win collaborations
between academic and the industrial setting: (1) fund
internships that provide promising female graduate students
and professors with access to successful women scientists in
your company and exposure to stimulating research
activities; (2) set up mentoring programs that reach down
into educational institutions; (3) collaborate with
professional associations of women in science; (4) provide
fellowships and seed money for research to promising women
graduate students who are recruitment targets for your
company; (5) provide funding for visiting lectureships for
distinguished industrial scientists; and (6) provide funding
for distinguished academic scientists to work with
scientists in your company as "loaned academics."
For women pursuing science degrees: keep career options
open; conduct information interviews with women scientists
working in industry; consider applying for an internship in
a corporation; and find out the representation of women
scientists in the company.
Corporate Best Practices-AT&T's Graduate Fellowship Program,
begun in 1975, offers educational support to women and
under-represented minorities. It covers all educational
expenses during the school year, a stipend for living
expenses, support for attending scientific conferences, and
pairs graduate students with mentors who are experienced
scientists. Texas Instruments launched its Women's
Professional Development Team in 1994 to increase women's
representation on the technical ladder. The team established
accountability for diversity by implementing annual
diversity reviews of technical ladder statistics by TI's
Technical Council Chair; expanded career development
policies and programs, including mentoring workshops and
conferences for women in technology; and increased technical
training for employees.
Methodology-Catalyst first conducted focus groups with 35
women scientists at three Fortune 500 companies. Data from
the focus group discussions were instrumental in devising
the protocol for the individual interviews with the 30
pioneering women scientists ultimately selected for this
study.
About Catalyst-Catalyst is the nonprofit research and
advisory organization that works with business to advance
women. For more information about Catalyst, please visit our
website at www.catalystwomen.org or call Monica Blaizgis in
the media department: (212) 514-7600.
Women Scientists in Industry: Making It In Both Management
and Technical Roles was sponsored by Tampax, a product of
Procter & Gamble.
Interviews from Women Scientists in Industry, Catalyst,
1999. c 1999 by Catalyst. 120 Wall Street, 5th floor, New
York, NY 10005. Tel (212) 514-7600; Fax (212) 514-8470;
www.catalystwomen.org
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End of CSWA Newsletter for 6/9/99