National Academies Press: OpenBook
« Previous: Executive Summary
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

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:

  1. collecting and disseminating current data about the participation of

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

women in science and engineering to broad constituencies in academe, government, industry, and professional societies;

  1. monitoring the progress of efforts to increase the participation of women in scientific and engineering careers;

  2. 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

  3. 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.

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

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

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

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.

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

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

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

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.

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

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).

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

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

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

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.

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

Source: National Research Council's Survey of Doctorate Recipients.

Figure 4. U.S. and Foreign Engineering Faculty, age 35 or less, 1973-1989.

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

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:

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
  • 40,000 priority workers, those "whose work will prospectively benefit the U.S. and whose achievements are of international renown" as well as "the outstanding researcher or professor ... recognized internationally and [having] at least three years' teaching or research experience in an academic area;"

  • 40,000 immigrants holding advanced degrees;

  • 40,000 immigrants with bachelor's degrees or equivalents; and

  • 10,000 foreign scientist-entrepreneurs who, in order to qualify, must guarantee a minimum investment of $1 million "in a new commercial enterprise that employs at least 10 U.S. workers" (Eisner, 1991).

The availability of foreign scientists and engineers may be decreasing, however: F. Karl Willenbrock, former assistant director of NSF's Directorate for Scientific, Technological, and International Affairs, noted just a year ago:

By the end of the century ... as a group, 29 industrialized and newly industrialized countries that are major producers of [S&E] degrees will experience a decline in college-age people. Many of these are the very countries that in the past have sent science and engineering graduates with baccalaureate degrees to the U.S. for graduate education (quoted in Vetter, 1990).

In addition, Betty M. Vetter, executive director of the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology, reported that while "13,300 scientists and engineers immigrated to the U.S. in 1970, accounting for 3.6 percent of all immigrants admitted that year, ... in 1988, their numbers had dropped to 10,900, or 1.7 percent of all immigrants" (Vetter, 1990).

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

Education Issues

The Ph.D. attainment rate of women remains lower than of men in all fields of science and engineering except psychology, although "at no stage in the educational process is there an indication that the attrition is caused by lack of academic performance" (Koshland, 1988). Recent statistics highlight this attrition by women. In 1986, women received 38 percent of the awarded baccalaureates, 30 percent of the master's degrees, and 26 percent of the doctorates in science and engineering. Little improvement was found three years later, when the percentage of S&E degrees awarded to women were 39, 32, and 26 percent, respectively (Table 4).

These 1989 totals, however, conceal considerable variation by field. Women received 71 percent of bachelor's degrees in psychology, 50 percent in the life sciences (a 7 percent increase from 1986), 46 percent in mathematics, and 44 percent in the social sciences, but only 14 percent in engineering, 30 percent in the physical sciences, and 31 percent in computer and information sciences (a 6 percent decrease from 1986). Whereas women in the life sciences and social sciences are likely to complete advanced degrees, they are much less likely to do so in the physical sciences, computer and information sciences, and mathematics, where women represented 41 percent of the 1978 baccalaureates but only 16.6 percent of the 1986 doctorates. (It should be noted that women's share of math doctorates increased to 19.4 percent in 1989.) In the life sciences, on the other hand, the 30.2 percent of the 1986 doctorates earned by women were based on 36 percent of baccalaureates in 1977; and in engineering, women earned almost 7 percent of 1978 bachelor's degrees and the same proportion of 1986 doctorates. In the biological sciences, where women have traditionally comprised a large number of degree-earners, men have a higher probability

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

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.

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

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

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

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/

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

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.

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

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

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

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.

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

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."

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

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

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

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

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×

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:

  1. strengthening the S&E education infrastructure,

  2. examining the effectiveness of intervention programs in sustaining the flow of women into science and engineering, and

  3. exploring career patterns for women in S&E employment.

Within these topics are four policy issues that the Committee believes warrant consideration:

  1. changing demographics,

  2. changing missions of relevant agencies in the federal government and industrial organizations and their subsequent impact on university-government-private partnerships,

  3. changing public attitudes toward science and scientists, and

  4. 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.

Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
This page in the original is blank.
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 5
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 6
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 7
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 8
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 9
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 10
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 11
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 12
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 13
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 14
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 15
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 16
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 17
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 18
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 19
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 20
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 21
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 22
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 23
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 24
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 25
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 26
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 27
Suggested Citation:"1. Introduction." National Research Council. 1991. Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/1878.
×
Page 28
Next: 2. The Science and Engineering Education Infrastructure »
Women in Science and Engineering: Increasing Their Numbers in the 1990s: A Statement on Policy and Strategy Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $50.00
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

From time to time, it is necessary to alert the research and policy communities to opportunities for action in areas of mutual concern. One such area is the participation and utilization of women in science and engineering in the United States.

This book explores the underparticipation of women in these fields and presents a strategic plan to bring qualified women into such careers as researchers, teachers, and practitioners of science and engineering.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!