1. Barriers to gender equity in US biomedical science – the slow drip of the leaky pipeline
Kim E. Barrett, Ph.D.
Dean of Graduate Studies
University of California, San Diego
USA
Gender Equity Symposium, IUPS Congress
Kyoto, Japan, July 2009

2. Barriers to gender equity in biomedical science
Implicit and explicit biases
Work/life conflicts that disproportionately affect women
Unequal access to resources
Although some recent studies discount this
Underrepresentation of women in leadership and decision-making positions

3. Progress is occurring, slowly….
Percentage of women
Source: AAMC Women in US Academic Medicine report, 2008

4. Women and NIH research grants
Number of Awards to Women
Number of Awards to Men
Percent of Awards to Women

5. Women in US life sciences
Percentage women
Source: National Science Foundation

6. Caveats
In medical schools, women significantly overrepresented in “soft money” and clinical series
Over time, small differences in treatment (resources, salary) have accumulated to represent substantial inequities
Normative time from Ph.D. to Full Professor 15 years – Full Professor “gap”

7. Women in US life sciences
Percentage women
Source: National Science Foundation

8. US National Academies Report, 2009
Congressionally mandated; funded by NSF
Sought to assess hiring, tenure, promotion and status of women in STEM fields at major research universities
Single time point/snapshot study
Underlying mechanisms could not be assessed

9. NAS study – key findings
Many women Ph.D.’s don’t apply for faculty positions at research-intensive universities
Proportion of women tenure candidates lower than proportion of women assistant professors
Leave before being considered?
Recent increase in female hiring?
Female tenure success exceeded that of men
But women spent a longer time as assistant professors
Full professors paid 8% less than men after controlling for discipline

10. Women are lost at critical transitions Choose careers other than tenure-track positions
Percentage of women
Source: NAS report 2009

11. NAS study – institutional efforts
Little in the way of proactive efforts to increase the proportion of women in the applicant pool
If women served on search committees, particularly as chair, the proportion of women candidates increased
Other strategies had little detectable effect
Men and women have similar resources, start-up packages, professional duties and lab space
But women may be excluded from informal discussions on research, salary and departmental climate

12. Dual hiring as a strategy to recruit/retain women
36% of the American professoriate has an academic partner
Women are more likely than men to have academic partners (often in their own discipline)
Couple hiring has risen from 3% in the 1970’s to 13% in the 2000’s while the proportion of academic couples has remained constant
Parallels the entry of women into academia
Women are increasingly the “first hire”
Clayman Institute Report, Stanford University,2008

13. Implicit bias remains an issue
In a study of postdoctoral fellowship reviews in Sweden, Wenneras and Wold found that women needed significantly more publications to be judged equally competent as men, unless they knew someone on the review committee
Wenneras and Wold, Nature 387: 341 (1997)

14. High profile detractors
Stephen Pinker
Larry Summers
Peter Lawrence

15. The situation at UCSD 21% of all faculty are women (2007)
Lowest of the UC system
High representation of STEM disciplines and the presence of a medical (but no nursing) school contribute
Two gender equity studies identified disparities in salary, retentions and advancement on the general campus and in the medical school
On average, women faculty were paid 23% less than their male counterparts after correcting for years since receiving their doctoral degrees and years at UCSD

16. Responses and strategies
Search practices and oversight of appointments, starting salaries overhauled
Reasons for salary “outliers” analyzed and corrected where appropriate
“Calibration reviews” initiated
Measures of contributions to clinical and educational missions developed and implemented
Appointment of high level administrators with equity portfolio on general campus and SOM, as well as divisional “equity advisors” – sustained attention to the issue

17. Requirements for a successful gender equity report
Institutional support
Unfettered access to salary and other data
Help from a committed economist/statistician
A dedicated task-force or standing committee
Leadership commitment to effect change as needed
Cookies!

18. Recommendations for action (I)
Ensure equity for existing faculty
Enhance outreach to convince women of attractiveness of faculty career
Ensure transparency and dissemination of tenure and promotion policies
Collect data on representation and publicize progress

19. Recommendations for action (II)
Celebrate accomplishments of successful women and create networking opportunities
Address work/life balance issues
Increasingly, benefits male faculty too!
Secure a strong personal commitment from institutional leadership

20. Thank you for your attention!
どうもありがとう。