If I were writing a blog about women in academia 15 (or even 10) years ago, the title would have been just the opposite: “Are Women Given an Unfair Disadvantage in Academia?” I recently red an article in the New York Times that was close to my heart. “Gains, And Drawbacks, For Female Professors” (3/21/11)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/21/us/21mit.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
While I decided not to pursue an academic career, the article focuses on changes in policies for female professors at MIT, my alma mater. In fact, the study that is discussed started 12 years ago, when I was a student there. Back in 1999 when MIT admitted discriminating against female professors, the school became a model for resolving gender inequality in academia. Since then several policies have been implemented to support female faculty members, including a generous family leave, a one-year pause on the tenure-clock after each child, and subsidized daycare on campus.
Given the strong push for hiring female professors in the last decade, women at MIT now fear that their male colleagues view them as having unfair advantages. However, the requirements for tenured positions remain stringent, including recommendations from at least 15 scholars outside of M.I.T. Furthermore a significant number of female faculty are recipients of awards including the National Medal of Science and membership in the National Academy of Sciences.
Overall female professors feel that more change has been made in the last 10 years than they had expected. Back in the 90’s I went to a conference of the Society of Women Engineers, and the recipient of their highest award went to a female professor who had been a faculty member since the 1970’s. Back in the 1960’s she applied to several Ivy League schools for college and one of them (I chose not to disclose which one), simply replied “We do not accept women.” Thirty years later, she was a tenured female professor at one of the most distinguished schools in the country and the recipient of numerous national awards. But, I do remember that back in the 90’s women were still fighting for adequate lab space, and feared that having children would derail their careers.
Despite the encouraging progress in their career paths, women still feel that they are under more pressure than their male colleagues. Besides the demands of family, women are highly sought after to serve in university committees and speak about work-life balance. Some female faculty feel these commitments take precious time away which could be spent preparing for lectures, doing research or outside consulting. Nevertheless, the progress that has been made in the last 10 years is amazing, especially as more universities are working to eliminate gender inequalities.