AN INITIAL LOOK AT THE COMPOSITION OF GEOSCIENCE DEPARTMENTS BY GENDER AND RANK

We keep hearing that the composition of geoscience departments has become more equal in terms of gender. Is that actually true? To investigate this question, I collected data from department websites from public universities in the North-Central GSA area. Both Research 1 schools and regional comprehensive schools were used in this study.

The more competitive research university included data from Ohio State University, Purdue University, and the University of Michigan. These consist of larger departments with a greater emphasis on research and publication than at the regional state comprehensive universities. The number of women in these departments ranged from 11% at Ohio State University to 41% at the University of Michigan. Composition, as far as rank, is also interesting. At Purdue and Ohio State, full professors make up the majority (~60%) of their tenure-track faculty. Full professors at all three of these universities are 70-90% male. Numbers are more gender-equal for the ranks of associate and assistant.

Data was also collected from regional state comprehensive universities (Eastern Illinois University, Western Illinois University, Southern Illinois University, and Northern Illinois University) as well. The pressure to publish and the emphasis on research are not as great at these universities; teaching loads are higher. How do they compare as far as gender and rank composition? The gender composition ranges from 35-22% female in all tenure-track positions. When considering rank, full professors make up between 89-41% of the tenure-track faculty at these schools. Men comprise the majority (63-75%) of those full professors. Two of these schools (EIU and WIU) have no assistant professors in the department, which is most likely due to fiscally conservative policies at both universities over the last 10 years.

Geoscience departments are still dominantly male, especially when we take into account higher rank (full professor positions). We know the number of women earning Ph.D.s has increased, but we are not seeing departments with equal ratios of men to women.