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Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing their Numbers in the 1990s
1
INTRODUCTION
The National Research Council (NRC) has a long and distinguished history of providing the federal government with information that is needed to develop effective policies for recruiting and retaining individuals in scientific and engineering (S&E) careers. In recent years, the Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel (OSEP) has served as the focal point in NRC for providing information and advice on the health of the human resource base. Issues affecting women in science and engineering have been variously addressed over the last two decades (see Technical Appendix, which refers to earlier NRC efforts in this area). While some progress has been made in facilitating the entry of talented women into careers in these areas, much remains to be done in both recruiting and retaining women in science and engineering. It is no surprise, therefore, that to strengthen and clarify policies affecting the preparation and recruitment of women for careers in this area, the Governing Board of NRC concluded in 1988 that an ongoing effort was needed and requested OSEP to establish a committee that would have as its long-range goal the increased participation of women in the scientific and engineering work force.
The Committee on Women in Science and Engineering (CWSE) was established in 1990 and held its first meeting in March 1991. As a standing committee of NRC, CWSE includes in its growing portfolio four · sets of activities:
collecting and disseminating current data about the participation of
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Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing their Numbers in the 1990s
women in science and engineering to broad constituencies in academe, government, industry, and professional societies;
monitoring the progress of efforts to increase the participation of women in scientific and engineering careers;
conducting symposia, workshops, and other meetings of experts to explore the policy environment, to stimulate and encourage initiatives in program development for women in science and engineering, and to evaluate their effectiveness on a regular basis; and
proposing research and conducting special studies on issues particularly relevant to women scientists and engineers in order to develop reports that will document evidence and articulate NRC recommendations for action.
Specifically, CWSE will focus on the postsecondary segments of the education/employment pipeline—undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral, and career segments—while keeping abreast of developments in precollege science education designed to recruit females into scientific and engineering careers.
The challenge in the 1990s will be to identify new opportunities for assuring that women will take their place beside men in building a strong science and technology base in the United States. This report outlines the role that the Committee on Women in Science and Engineering expects to take in achieving that goal.
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Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing their Numbers in the 1990s
The Global Policy Environment
Policies affecting the recruitment, education, and employment of women in science and engineering do not arise in a vacuum. Shifts in economic conditions, demographic patterns, and national research and development (R&D) goals stimulate the formulation of human resource policies and the selection of program goals (see, for example, Wildarsky, 1979; OSEP, 1991). The United States now faces a critical period in setting its technological and scientific priorities, and particular attention is being given to the expansion of the present pool of scientific and technical talent. It should come as no surprise that many policies affecting the role of women in science and engineering take as their starting point trends in the U.S. demography.
Demographic Issues
The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the human-resource needs for science and engineering will increase, by 36 percent between the years 1986 and 2000, because of high-technology industrial growth and the increasing use of high-technology goods and services (see Table 1). How will we meet these increased human-resource needs? Richard C. Atkinson, chancellor of the University of California-San Diego and former director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), is emphatic about the current situation:
Persuading more students to pursue graduate education in science and engineering, maintaining the vitality of our universities, raising the level of technological literacy, and making more effective use of the results and
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Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing their Numbers in the 1990s
TABLE 1: Civilian Employment of Scientists, Engineers, and Technicians (SET), by Field, 1986 and 2000
Field
Number Employed, 1986
Projected Percentage Increase in Employment, 2000
TOTAL, SET Fields
4,245,600
36
Total Scientists*
1,131,600
45
Computer Specialists
331,000
76
Life
140,000
21
Mathematical
48,000
29
Physical
180,000
13
Social
432,600
36
Total Engineers
1,371,000
32
Aeronautical/astronautical
53,000
11
Chemical
52,000
15
Civil
199,000
25
Electrical/electronics
401,000
48
Industrial
117,000
30
Mechanical
233,000
33
Other
316,000
24
Total Technicians
1,743,000
36
Computer Programmers
479,000
70
Draftsmen
348,000
2
Electrical/electronics
313,000
46
Other engineering
376,000
26
Physical, mathematical, and life sciences
227,000
15
* Includes 97,300 environmental scientists.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Outlook 2000 (Bulletin 2302), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1990.
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Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing their Numbers in the 1990s
insights of science in policy and decision making are not separate problems. Rather, they are related components of the fundamental question of the adequacy of our science-education system and its relevance to the country's needs (Atkinson, 1988).
After reviewing those needs, Eileen Collins concluded that
If present trends continue, there will be a shortage of trained engineers which cannot be filled by the natural increases in numbers of women and minority students obtaining degrees. Possible market adjustments include the injection of foreign talent, a policy decision to increase the numbers of women and minority students, and the recapture and retraining of those engineers no longer in the field (Collins, 1988).
Figure 1 reveals that only about 5.2 percent of high school sophomores are likely to pursue studies in the natural sciences and engineering culminating in receipt of bachelor's degrees in those disciplines. of those receiving baccalaureates in 1984, only 4.7 percent will have earned Ph.D.s in science and engineering by 1992. When these percentages are applied to the cohort of U.S. high school students for the 1986-2000 period, it becomes dear that the number of young scientists and engineers passing through the education pipeline may not be adequate to meet the demand projected in Table 1. Planning must be undertaken now to provide the Nation with the trained personnel who will ensure the development of new technologies and new knowledge.
Three demographic trends will further complicate the generic issue of providing a sufficient supply of U.S. scientists and engineers. First, the 18- to 24-year-old cohort that comprises our undergraduate population—traditionally, whites, both males and females—will continue to decline until
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Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing their Numbers in the 1990s
Source: Task Force on Women, Minorities, and the Handicapped in Science and Technology, Changing America: The New Face of Science and Engineering (Interim Report), Washington, D.C.: The Task Force, 1988.
Figure 1. Science and engineering (S&E) pipeline, from high school through Ph.D. degree.
1995 (Figure 2). Second, the percentage of students majoring in most fields of science and engineering has been dropping for the past few years (Table 2). and third, projections show that the increases in the U.S. population will be greatest among ethnic groups that have not heretofore participated significantly in science and engineering. All three trends add to the widespread concern about the future supply of scientists and engineers to meet national needs.
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Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing their Numbers in the 1990s
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1990 (110th edition), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1990.
Figure 2. U.S. population, aged 18-24, 1970-1988, and projected, 1990-2010 (in thousands).
A predicted consequence is a shortfall of faculty recruits to meet the foreseeable replacement needs due to retirements. Some estimates show that 40 percent of tenured S&E faculty will retire by 1995 and that many new faculty hires will be needed (Figure 3) (Vetter, 1989). Coupled with a decrease in the number of U.S. citizens earning doctorates in science and engineering and gaining tenure——particularly in engineering, computer science, and mathematics——these data project a disturbing picture before the start of the twenty-first century (Thurgood and Weinman, 1990).
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Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing their Numbers in the 1990s
TABLE 2: Bachelor's Degrees in Science and Engineering as Percentage of All Baccalaureates Awarded, Selected Years, 1972-1989
Science and Engineering Disciplines
Year
Comp/ Info
Engng
Health
Life
Math
Phys
Psych
Social
1972
na
4.91
3.00
5.71
2.91
223
4.63
9.62
1974
na
4.28
5.29
6.71
2.61
2.09
5.14
9.16
1976
na
3.88
6.42
7.67
2.16
2.14
5.00
8.15
1978
.78
4.77
6.71
7.76
1.36
233
4.53
7.59
1980
1.20
5.88
6.84
7.11
1.22
235
4.22
7.18
1982
2.13
6.96
6.77
6.64
1.22
250
4.26
7.33
1984
3.30
7.86
6.65
5.79
1.36
2.44
4.14
7.07
1986
4.24
7.67
6.66
5.35
1.65
2.17
4.07
6.90
1987
4.00
9.39
6.38
3.84
1.66
2.01
4.32
9.70
1988
3.48
8.94
6.05
3.70
1.60
1.79
4.53
10.09
1989
3.01
8.38
5.81
3.55
1.50
1.69
4.77
10.58
SOURCE: Betty M. Vetter, Professional Women and Minorities (9th ed.), Washington, D.C.: Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology, 1991, from U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, ''Degrees and Other Formal Awards Conferred.''
Another factor affecting science policy in this area arises from the increasing proportion of both foreign scientists and engineers in the U.S. work force and foreigners earning doctorates from U.S. institutions, which has grown steadily since 1975 (NSF, 1987; Dybas, 1990). The increase in non-U.S. citizens on engineering faculties of U.S. universities (Figure 4) has been especially rapid, but the number of foreign scientists and engineers in the U.S. industrial work force has also been growing steadily as increasing percentages of foreigners receive advanced S&E degrees in the United States (Table 3). Many within the scientific community feel that without
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Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing their Numbers in the 1990s
Source: U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Demographic Trends and the Scientific and Engineering Work Force——A Technical Memorandum, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1985.
Figure 3. High and low estimates of the number of new Ph.D. faculty hires in the sciences and engineering, every five years, 1980-2015.
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Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing their Numbers in the 1990s
Source: National Research Council's Survey of Doctorate Recipients.
Figure 4. U.S. and Foreign Engineering Faculty, age 35 or less, 1973-1989.
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Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing their Numbers in the 1990s
TABLE 3: Ph.D.s Awarded by U.S. Universities to Non-U.S. Citizens, 1989
Field
Total Ph.D.s in Field
Percent Earned by Non-U.S. Citizens
Perm. Visas
Temp. Visas
Total All Fields
34,319
5.1
21.0
Physical Sciences
5,460
5.3
30.5
Physics/Astronomy
1,278
5.3
36.7
Chemistry
1,971
4.6
25.1
Earth, Atmos., and Marine
738
4.4
17.8
Mathematics
861
4.5
44.5
Computer Sciences
612
9.9
31.2
Engineering
4,536
8.7
46.5
Life Sciences*
6,343
4.4
19.3
Biological Sciences
4,106
4.6
15.5
Health Sciences
985
2.8
15.2
Agricultural Sciences
1,252
4.8
35.6
Social Sciences*
5,955
4.2
15.5
Political Sci/Int'l Relations
524
9.3
25.2
Economics
898
6.8
40.8
Humanities
3,558
6.4
10.5
Education
6,265
2.8
7.6
Professional/Other*
2,202
6.3
19.8
Business and Management
1,071
6.9
26.5
Note: Totals in each field include U.S citizens and recipients with unknown citizenship status. Percentages are based on the number of doctorates with known citizenship status.
* Totals include other fields not shown.
SOURCE: Delores H. Thurgood and Joanne M. Weinman, Summary Report 1989: Doctorate Recipients from United States Universities, Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1990.
the large number of foreign graduate students, U.S. universities would be unable to educate the next generation of scientists and engineers to meet U.S. research and development needs.
The 1990 Immigration Act, signed into law by President Bush in November 1990 to be effective in October 1991, permits 140,000 skilled workers to obtain permanent visas each year. These skilled workers include:
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Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing their Numbers in the 1990s
TABLE 4: Science and Engineering Degrees Granted to Women, by Degree Level, 1986 and 1989
Baccalaureates
Master's Degrees
Doctorates
Science and Engineering Field
Total
No. of Women
% of Total
No. of Women
% of Total
No. of Women
% of Total
Total
1986
121,439
37.7
18,298
29.9
4,906
26.1
1989
133,395
39.2
21,298
31.6
5,482
26.1
Sciences, total
1986
110,123
45.2
15,970
39.9
4,681
36.4
1989
121,773
47.7
18,112
42.2
5,082
34.0
Physical
1986
6,698
28.1
1,352
23.3
605
16.4
1989
5,107
29.7
1,533
26.7
759
19.7
Mathematical
1986
7,036
46.1
1,011
35.0
121
16.6
1989
7,016
46.0
1,366
39.9
171
19.4
Computer & Info. Science
1986
14,431
36.9
2,037
28.7
49
12.3
1989
9,416
30.7
2,623
27.9
81
15.1
Life
1986
25,149
43.5
3,491
39.9
1,448
30.2
1989
18,109
50.2
2,449
49.6
1,298
36.7
Psychology
1986
27,422
68.2
5,417
63.9
1,564
50.9
1989
34,335
70.8
5,780
67.4
1,834
56.2
Social
1986
29,387
43.5
2,662
37.8
894
32.5
1989
47,790
44.4
4,361
40.2
939
32.6
Engineering and Engineering technologies
1986
11,316
14.5
2,328
11.0
225
6.7
1989
11,622
13.6
3,186
13.0
400
8.8
SOURCE: National Science Board, Science Indicators—1989 (NSB 89-1), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989; and Delores H. Thurgood and Joanne M. Weinman, Summary Report 1989: Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities, Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1990.
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than women of pursuing graduate study, but the difference between men and women is smaller than in many other fields: in 1985, 23.6 percent of the 93,000 recent male undergraduates enrolled in graduate school, as opposed to only 18.1 percent of the women (Hornig, 1987).
Within this environment, current data indicate the need for a concerted effort to analyze the reasons underlying the decreasing participation of U.S. students in science and engineering and to take corrective action. The declining number of college-aged students during the coming decades does not necessarily imply that the United States will have a shortage of native-born scientists and engineers, if a strategy can be found to increase the probability that young people go into scientific and engineering careers. Such a strategy should include increasing the participation of groups who in the past have been underrepresented in the S&E work force. Women are a major human resource that has traditionally been underrepresented in most fields of science and engineering in the United States. Thus, U.S. women educated in the sciences and engineering represent a potential resource for addressing projected future needs for S&E personnel.
Employment Issues
Examination of the 1988 data reveals that, while women are increasingly represented in the total U.S. work force (45 percent) and in the total professional work force, including the scientific, business, and management areas (50 percent), they are greatly underrepresented in the scientific work force (30 percent) and the engineering work force (4 percent) (Figure 5) (NSF, 1990b). In some subfields women are grossly
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Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing their Numbers in the 1990s
Source: National Science Foundation, Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering (NSF 90-301), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1990.
Figure 5. Percentage of women among employed scientists and engineers, by field, 1988.
underrepresented, more so than in many foreign countries, as was revealed by a recent international study of the participation of women in physics (Table 5). Yet it is projected that by the year 2000, 85 percent of new entrants to the U.S. work force will be women and members of racial/
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Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing their Numbers in the 1990s
TABLE 5: Degrees to Women in Physics and Women as Physics Faculty (in percent)
Degrees to Recent Graduates
Country
Bachelor's
Doctorate
Faculty
Belgium
33
29
11
Brazil
24
31
18
Democratic German Republic
12
18
8
France
24
21
23
Hungary
50
27
47
India
25
26
10
Ireland
22
20
7
Italy
29
21
23
Japan
7
4
6
Korea
20
5
3
Netherlands
20
4
6
New Zealand
10
11
6
Philippines
28
60
31
Poland
14
17
17
South Africa
24
21
9
Spain
17
21
16
Turkey
38
17
23
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
34
25
30
United Kingdom
16
12
4
United States
15
9
3
SOURCE: W. J. Megaw, Gender Distribution in the World's Physics Departments , paper prepared for the meeting, Gender and Science and Technology 6, Melbourne, Australia, July 14-18, 1991.
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Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing their Numbers in the 1990s
Source; National Science Board, Science Indicators—1989 (NSB 89-1), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989.
Figure 6. Women doctorates in science and engineering, by field, 1976 and 1986.
ethnic minority groups, groups not traditionally employed in the sciences and engineering (Department of Labor, 1990).
Analysis of their current distribution by fields (Figure 6) and types of employers (Table 6) provides some perspective on the role of doctorate women in the S&E work force:
Academe: Table 6 shows that most women Ph.D.s entered
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Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing their Numbers in the 1990s
TABLE 6: Employers of Doctorate Recipients in Science and Engineering, by Sex, 1989
Type of Employer
Year
Total
Male
Female
Number
Percent
Number
Percent
TOTAL
1989
476,340
393,843
100.0
82,497
100.0
Self-Employed
1989
31,801
23,216
5.9
8,585
10.4
Business & Industry
1989
111,375
101,097
25.7
10,278
12.5
Academe
1989
225,803
183,901
46.7
41,902
50.8
Two-Year College
1989
5,226
4,006
1.0
1,220
1.5
Medical School
1989
31,711
23,047
5.9
8,664
10.5
Four-Year College
1989
31,693
25,208
6.4
6,485
7.9
Other University
1989
153,154
129,280
32.8
23,874
28.9
Precollege
1989
4,019
2,360
0.6
1,659
2.0
Government*
1989
38,493
32,801
8.3
5,6921
6.9
Nonprofit Org.
1989
13,480
10,429
2.6
3,051
3.7
Other
1989
18,033
12,568
3.2
5,465
6.6
Not Employed
1989
36,495
29,164
7.4
7,331
8.9
No Report
1989
860
667
0.2
193
0.2
* Federal, state, and local.
SOURCE: Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel, Survey of Doctorate Recipients.
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Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing their Numbers in the 1990s
academe (about 50 percent in 1989), primarily medical schools and four-year colleges, with correspondingly smaller numbers finding positions in other types of employment. Another 2 percent of women Ph.D.s entered precollege teaching, compared with less than 1 percent of men. Women comprise 27.6 percent of all faculties at U.S. universities (Vetter, 1991, Tables 5-12), but only 17.5 percent of all science and engineering faculty (Table 7). and while men Ph.D.s are more likely to hold full or associate professorships, women are much more likely to be instructors, lecturers, adjunct faculty, and ''other'' faculty.
Industry: Overall, about 12 percent of women scientists and engineers are employed in industry, compared to about 26 percent of men scientists and engineers (Table 6). The National Research Council (1983) reported that 1981 data showed a doubling of the number of women scientists and engineers in industry since 1977, but that they remained seriously underrepresented compared to their availability and were underemployed and underpaid. Data from NSF reveal similar findings for the past decade.1
Government: In 1988 the U.S. work force included approximately 2.0 million scientists and 2.6 million engineers, of whom 88,106 scientists and 107,415 engineers were employed by the federal government, the largest single employer of scientists and engineers in the United States (Campbell and Dix, 1990). Overall, women and minorities find greater employment opportunities within the
1
The National Science Foundation (1988, p. viii) released the following information: "If those working involuntarily in either part-time or non-S/E jobs are considered as a proportion of total employment, about 6 percent of women, compared with 2 percent of men, are underemployed.... Women's salaries are lower than men's in essentially all S/E fields and at all levels of professional experience."
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Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing their Numbers in the 1990s
TABLE 7: Academic Ranks of all U.S. Doctorate Recipients in Science and Engineering, 1989
Male
Female
Academic Rank
Year
Total
Number
Percent
Number
Percent
TOTAL
1989
221,784
181,541
81.9
40,243
18.1
Faculty, Total
1989
199,081
164,254
82.5
34,827
17.5
Professor
1989
89,821
82,354
91.7
7,467
8.3
Assoc. Professor
1989
50,314
40,724
80.9
9,590
19.1
Asst. Professor
1989
38,513
27,235
70.7
I 1,278
29.3
Instructor
1989
2,445
1,473
60.2
972
39.8
Lecturer
1989
2,395
1,430
59.7
965
40.3
Adjunct Faculty
1989
3,744
2,476
66.1
1,268
33.9
Other Faculty
1989
11,849
8,562
72.3
3,287
27.7
Postdoctoral Appt.
1989
11,892
8,491
71.4
3,401
28.6
Does Not Apply
1989
4,364
3,035
69.5
1,329
30.5
No Report
1989
6,447
5,761
89.4
686
10.6
SOURCE: Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel, Survey of Doctorate Recipients
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Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing their Numbers in the 1990s
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings and Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey, in Public Employees: Facts at a Glance, Washington, D.C.: AFL-CIO Public Employee Department, 1990.
Figure 7. Women, blacks, and Hispanics in the federal work force, 1988 (in percent).
federal government than within other U.S. employment sectors (Figure 7). However, "in 1988 only about 14 percent of federal scientists and engineers were female, and about 7 percent were black or Hispanic" (Falk, 1990).
Conclusion
The policy environment for recruiting and retaining women in science and engineering can be characterized currently by attention to three types of issues: (1) demographic considerations, including the rising proportion of non-U.S. citizens in the U.S. work force; (2) education issues, with emphasis on the low rate of participation of women in the component fields of science and engineering; and (3) employment conditions in the U.S. work force. The decisions that we make about our
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Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing their Numbers in the 1990s
S&E cadre today will have a significant effect on our ability to find solutions to future problems. Our ultimate success depends upon the degree to which we maximize use of all of the Nation's human resources.
Based on this policy environment, the Committee concludes that there is great potential for increasing the number of women in science and engineering, especially in areas where they are most underrepresented and where the national need is greatest. CWSE has therefore formulated a plan of action on three topics:
strengthening the S&E education infrastructure,
examining the effectiveness of intervention programs in sustaining the flow of women into science and engineering, and
exploring career patterns for women in S&E employment.
Within these topics are four policy issues that the Committee believes warrant consideration:
changing demographics,
changing missions of relevant agencies in the federal government and industrial organizations and their subsequent impact on university-government-private partnerships,
changing public attitudes toward science and scientists, and
the entry and retention of women into mainstream science and engineering careers.
The next three chapters of this report examine each of the three topics with these policy issues in mind.
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