Research

Women in Academia: Quick Take

Jan 23, 2020

ASIA-PACIFIC

In Australia, Women Hold Fewer Senior Faculty Positions Than Men1

In 2018, Australian women held fewer academic positions than men at the senior lecturer level and above, but more than half of all lecturer and below-lecturer positions.2

  • Women held 46.8% of Senior Lecturer faculty positions and just 33.9% of Above Senior Lecturer faculty positions.3
  • Women held 54.7% of Lecturer faculty positions and 53.8% of Below Lecturer faculty positions.4
Slightly More Than a Quarter of Professors in Indian Academia Are Women5

In 2018–2019, women in India held 27.3% of Professor and equivalent faculty positions, 36.8% of Reader and Associate Professor faculty positions, and 42.6% of Lecturer/Assistant Professor faculty positions.6

Parity Has Been Reached at Junior Colleges in Japan, but Universities Lag Behind7

In 2018, women represented over half (52.3%) of full-time junior college teachers in Japan, but just 24.8% of full-time university teachers.8

CANADA

Women’s Representation Among Faculty Is on the Rise in Canada9

Women were 41.0% of full-time academic teaching staff at Canadian universities in 2018–2019. 10

Women Are at or Near Parity Across Academic Ranks Except for Professor11

In 2018-2019, women made up:12

  • Professors: 28.0%
  • Associate Professors: 44.0%
  • Assistant Professors: 50.0%
  • Positions below Assistant Professor: 55.0%

Women Still Earn Less Than Men at All Ranks, Especially Full Professors 13

In 2017-2018, women full professors earned an annual average salary of $158,625—compared to the $166,925 earned by their male peers at the same rank.14

EUROPE

The Higher Up the Academic Ladder, the Wider the Gender Gap15

Women academics held 41.3% of academic positions across the 28 countries of the European Union (EU-28) in 2016.16

  • Women accounted for 23.7% of Grade A positions, 40.5% of Grade B positions, and 46.4% of Grade C positions. 17
  • Women were a minority among senior academics (Grade A) in many European countries, including the Netherlands (18.7%), Germany (19.4%), France (21.9%), Switzerland (23.3%), Sweden (25.4%) and the United Kingdom (26.4%).18

European women hold few positions in academic leadership.  In the EU-28, women were only 21.7% of heads of higher education institutions in 2017. 19

Women Academics in the UK Are Paid Less Than Men20

In 2019, women academics earned, on average, 15.1% less than their male counterparts in the United Kingdom.21

UNITED STATES

Women Are Less Likely Than Men to Achieve Tenure and Hold High Ranking Positions22

While women in the United States held nearly half (49.7%) of all tenure-track positions in 2018, they held just 39.3% of tenured positions.23

Women are more likely to be found in lower-ranking academic positions24

  • While women represent just over half (52.9%) of Assistant Professors and are near parity (46.4%) among Associate Professors, they accounted for barely over a third (34.3%) of Professors in 2018.25
  • Women held over half (57.0%) of all instructor positions, among the lowest ranking positions in academia.26
  • 22.7% of women faculty are in non-tenure-track positions, compared to 17.3% of men faculty.27

Women of Color Are Especially Underrepresented in Academia28

The growth of people of color in part-time non-tenure track positions grew at a far greater rate (230%) than those in full-time tenure-track positions (30%) over a twenty-year period (1993-2013)29

  • Asian women held 5.3% of tenure-track positions and 3.5% of tenured positions.30
  • Black women held 3.8% of tenure-track positions and 2.3% of tenured positions.31
  • Latinas held 3.1% of tenure-track positions and 2.6% of tenured positions.32

Women of color are also more likely to hold lower-ranking academic positions33

Percentage of Women of Color in Academic Positions and Tenure Status in the United States34

Tenure-Track Tenured Professors Associate Professors Assistant Professors Instructors
Asian Women 5.3% 3.5% 2.8% 4.8% 5.8% 3.3%
Black Women 3.8% 2.3% 1.6% 3.0% 4.0% 4.8%
Latinas 3.1% 2.6% 2.1% 2.6% 2.9% 4.7%

Structural Barriers and Biases Impede Women’s Chances for Tenure

Tenure evaluation processes—especially the preference of research productivity over teaching and service work—disproportionally favor men over women.35

Men Outearn Women at All Faculty Levels37

More Women Are Becoming College Presidents, but Progress Remains Slow38

From 1986 to 2016 the number of women college and university presidents jumped from 10% to 30%, a 200% increase.39

  • Racial diversity rose from 13% to 17% between 2011 and 2016.40

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Full list of Catalyst Quick Takes.

American Association of University Professors, “Gender and Sexuality in Higher Education.”

American Psychological Association, Surviving and Thriving in Academia: A Guide for Members of Marginalized Groups (2017).

Center for WorkLife Law, Effective Policies and Programs for Retention and Advancement of Women in Academia (2013).

The Chronicle of Higher Education, “The Awakening: Women and Power in the Academy.”

Mary Ann Mason, Nicholas H. Wolfinger, and Marc Goulden, Do Babies Matter? Gender and Family in the Ivory Tower (Rutgers University Press, 2013).

Irene Ngun, “Together We Can Do Better: A Gathering of Leaders in Academia to Prevent Sexual Harassment: Proceedings of a Workshop—In Brief,” (The National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine, 2019).

Danica Savonick and Cathy N. Davidson, “Gender Bias in Academe: An Annotated Bibliography of Important Recent Studies,” HASTAC, February 27, 2017.

 

How to cite this product: Catalyst, Quick Take: Women in Academia (January 23, 2020).

  1. Glenda Strachan, David Peetz, Gillian Whitehouse, Janis Bailey, Kaye Broadbent, Robyn May, Carolyn Troup, and Michelle Nesic, Women, Careers and Universities: Where To From Here? (Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing, Griffith University, 2016): p. 6.
  2. Australian Government, Department of Education and Training, “Table 2.6: Number of Full-Time and Fractional Full-Time Staff by State, Higher Education Institution, Current Duties and Gender, 2018,” Selected Higher Education Statistics—Staff 2018 Numbers (2018).
  3. Australian Government, Department of Education and Training, “Table 2.6: Number of Full-Time and Fractional Full-Time Staff by State, Higher Education Institution, Current Duties and Gender, 2018,” Selected Higher Education Statistics—Staff 2018 Numbers (2018).
  4. Australian Government, Department of Education and Training, “Table 2.6: Number of Full-Time and Fractional Full-Time Staff by State, Higher Education Institution, Current Duties and Gender, 2018,” Selected Higher Education Statistics—Staff 2018 Numbers (2018).
  5. Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, “Table 22: State & Post-Wise Number of Male & Female Teacher,” All India Survey on Higher Education (2018-19) (2019): p. T-22.
  6. Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, “Table 22: State & Post-Wise Number of Male & Female Teacher,” All India Survey on Higher Education (2018-19) (2019): p. T-22.
  7. Government of Japan, Gender Equality Bureau Cabinet Office, “Education and Research Fields,” Women and Men in Japan 2019 (2019).
  8. Government of Japan, Gender Equality Bureau Cabinet Office, “Education and Research Fields,” Women and Men in Japan 2019 (2019).
  9. Statistics Canada, “Number and Salaries of Full-Time Teaching Staff at Canadian Universities (Final), 2018/2019,” The Daily (November  25, 2019).
  10. Statistics Canada, “Number and Salaries of Full-Time Teaching Staff at Canadian Universities (Final), 2018/2019,” The Daily (November 25, 2019).
  11. Statistics Canada, “Number and Salaries of Full-Time Teaching Staff at Canadian Universities (Final), 2018/2019,” The Daily (November 25, 2019).
  12. Statistics Canada, “Number and Salaries of Full-Time Teaching Staff at Canadian Universities (Final), 2018/2019,” The Daily (November 25, 2019).
  13. Canadian Association of University Teachers, “Table 3.2: Average Salaries of Full-time University Teachers by Subject Taught, Rank and Sex, 2017-2018,” CAUT Almanac of Post-Secondary Education in Canada (2019).
  14. Canadian Association of University Teachers, “Table 3.2: Average Salaries of Full-time University Teachers by Subject Taught, Rank and Sex, 2017-2018,” CAUT Almanac of Post-Secondary Education in Canada (2019).
  15. European Commission, She Figures 2018 (2019): p. 118.
  16. European Commission, She Figures 2018 (2019): p. 118.
  17. Grade A positions are “the single highest grade/post at which research is normally conducted within the institutional or corporate system,” Grade B positions include “all researchers working in positions which are not as senior as the top position (A) but definitely more senior than the newly qualified PhD holders (C),” and Grade C positions describe “the first grade/post into which a newly qualified PhD graduate would normally be recruited within the institutional or corporate system;” European Commission, “Table 6.1: Proportion (%) of Women Among Academic Staff, by Grade and Total, 2016,” She Figures 2018 (2019): p. 118, 190.
  18. European Commission, “Table 6.1: Proportion (%) of Women Among Academic Staff, by Grade and Total, 2016,” She Figures 2018 (2019): p. 118.
  19. European Commission, “Table 6.1: Proportion (%) of Women Among Academic Staff, by Grade and Total, 2016,” She Figures 2018 (2019): p. 118
  20. Eurostat, “Table 2: The Unadjusted Gender Pay Gap by Economic Activity (%), 2017,” Gender Pay Gap Statistics (February 2019).
  21. University and College Union, The Gender Pay Gap in Further Education  (2019).
  22. Bridget Turner Kelly, “Though More Women Are on College Campuses, Climbing the Professor Ladder Remains a Challenge,” The Brookings Institution, March 29, 2019.
  23. National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS Data Center, “Full-Time Instructional Staff, by Faculty and Tenure Status, Academic Rank, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender (Degree-Granting Institutions): Fall 2018,” Fall Staff 2018 Survey (2018).
  24. National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS Data Center, “Full-Time Instructional Staff, by Faculty and Tenure Status, Academic Rank, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender (Degree-Granting Institutions): Fall 2018,” Fall Staff 2018 Survey (2018).
  25. National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS Data Center, “Full-Time Instructional Staff, by Faculty and Tenure Status, Academic Rank, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender (Degree-Granting Institutions): Fall 2018,” Fall Staff 2018 Survey (2018).
  26. National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS Data Center, “Full-Time Instructional Staff, by Faculty and Tenure Status, Academic Rank, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender (Degree-Granting Institutions): Fall 2018,” Fall Staff 2018 Survey (2018).
  27. National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS Data Center, “Full-Time Instructional Staff, by Faculty and Tenure Status, Academic Rank, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender (Degree-Granting Institutions): Fall 2018,” Fall Staff 2018 Survey (2018).
  28. National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS Data Center, “Full-Time Instructional Staff, by Faculty and Tenure Status, Academic Rank, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender (Degree-Granting Institutions): Fall 2018,” Fall Staff 2018 Survey (2018).
  29. Adam Harris, “The Death of an Adjunct,” The Atlantic, April 8, 2019.
  30. National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS Data Center, “Full-Time Instructional Staff, by Faculty and Tenure Status, Academic Rank, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender (Degree-Granting Institutions): Fall 2018,” Fall Staff 2018 Survey (2018).
  31. National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS Data Center, “Full-Time Instructional Staff, by Faculty and Tenure Status, Academic Rank, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender (Degree-Granting Institutions): Fall 2018,” Fall Staff 2018 Survey (2018).
  32. National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS Data Center, “Full-Time Instructional Staff, by Faculty and Tenure Status, Academic Rank, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender (Degree-Granting Institutions): Fall 2018,” Fall Staff 2018 Survey (2018).
  33. National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS Data Center, “Full-Time Instructional Staff, by Faculty and Tenure Status, Academic Rank, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender (Degree-Granting Institutions): Fall 2018,” Fall Staff 2018 Survey (2018).
  34. National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS Data Center, “Full-Time Instructional Staff, by Faculty and Tenure Status, Academic Rank, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender (Degree-Granting Institutions): Fall 2018,” Fall Staff 2018 Survey (2018).
  35. Katherine Weisshaar, “Publish and Perish? An Assessment of Gender Gaps in Promotion to Tenure in Academia,” Social Forces, vol. 96, no. 2 (December 2017): p. 529–560.
  37. American Association of University Professors, The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2018-19 (2019): p. 3.[/en_note]

    At all categories of institutions, full professors who are women earned on average $124,527 a year, compared to $142,693 for their male colleagues in 2018–2019. That’s 87.3% of what men earned.36American Association of University Professors, “Table 3: Average Full-time Faculty Salary, by Gender, Category, Affiliation, and Academic Rank, 2018–19 (Dollars),” The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2018-19 (2019): p. 13.

  38. “Comprehensive Demographic Profile of American College Presidents Shows Slow Progress in Diversifying Leadership Ranks, Concerns About Funding,” American Council on Education press release, June 20, 2017.
  39. “Comprehensive Demographic Profile of American College Presidents Shows Slow Progress in Diversifying Leadership Ranks, Concerns About Funding,” American Council on Education press release, June 20, 2017.
  40. American Council on Education, American College President Study 2017 (2017).