Barriers to gender equity in US biomedical science – the slow drip of

the leaky pipeline

Kim E. Barrett, Ph.D.Dean of Graduate Studies

University of California, San Diego

USA

Gender Equity Symposium, IUPS CongressKyoto, Japan, July 2009

Barriers to gender equity in biomedical science• Implicit and explicit biases• Work/life conflicts that disproportionately affect

women• Unequal access to resources

– Although some recent studies discount this

• Underrepresentation of women in leadership and decision-making positions

Progress is occurring, slowly….

Source: AAMC Women in US Academic Medicine report, 2008

Women and NIH research grants

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

Number of Awards to Women Number of Awards to Men Percent of Awards to Women

Women in US life sciences

Source: National Science Foundation

Caveats

• In medical schools, women significantly overrepresented in “soft money” and clinical series

• Over time, small differences in treatment (resources, salary) have accumulated to represent substantial inequities

• Normative time from Ph.D. to Full Professor 15 years – Full Professor “gap”

Women in US life sciences

Source: National Science Foundation

US National Academies Report, 2009

• Congressionally mandated; funded by NSF• Sought to assess hiring, tenure, promotion and

status of women in STEM fields at major research universities

• Single time point/snapshot study– Underlying mechanisms could not be assessed

NAS study – key findings

• Many women Ph.D.’s don’t apply for faculty positions at research-intensive universities

• Proportion of women tenure candidates lower than proportion of women assistant professors– Leave before being considered?– Recent increase in female hiring?

• Female tenure success exceeded that of men» But women spent a longer time as assistant professors

• Full professors paid 8% less than men after controlling for discipline

Women are lost at critical transitionsChoose careers other than tenure-track positions

Source: NAS report 2009

NAS study – institutional efforts

• Little in the way of proactive efforts to increase the proportion of women in the applicant pool– If women served on search committees, particularly as

chair, the proportion of women candidates increased– Other strategies had little detectable effect

• Men and women have similar resources, start-up packages, professional duties and lab space

» But women may be excluded from informal discussions on research, salary and departmental climate

Dual hiring as a strategy to recruit/retain women

• 36% of the American professoriate has an academic partner

• Women are more likely than men to have academic partners (often in their own discipline)

• Couple hiring has risen from 3% in the 1970’s to 13% in the 2000’s while the proportion of academic couples has remained constant– Parallels the entry of women into academia– Women are increasingly the “first hire”

Clayman Institute Report, Stanford University,2008

Implicit bias remains an issue

In a study of postdoctoral fellowship reviews in Sweden, Wenneras and Wold found that women needed significantly more publications to be judged equally competent as men, unless they knew someone on the review committee

Wenneras and Wold, Nature 387: 341 (1997)

High profile detractors

Stephen Pinker

Larry Summers

Peter Lawrence

The situation at UCSD

• 21% of all faculty are women (2007)– Lowest of the UC system– High representation of STEM disciplines and the presence

of a medical (but no nursing) school contribute

• Two gender equity studies identified disparities in salary, retentions and advancement on the general campus and in the medical school

On average, women faculty were paid 23% less than their male counterparts after correcting for years since receiving their doctoral degrees and years at UCSD

Responses and strategies

• Search practices and oversight of appointments, starting salaries overhauled

• Reasons for salary “outliers” analyzed and corrected where appropriate

• “Calibration reviews” initiated• Measures of contributions to clinical and educational

missions developed and implemented

Appointment of high level administrators with equity portfolio on general campus and SOM, as well as divisional “equity advisors” – sustained attention to the issue

Requirements for a successful gender equity report

• Institutional support– Unfettered access to salary and other data

• Help from a committed economist/statistician• A dedicated task-force or standing committee• Leadership commitment to effect change as needed• Cookies!

Recommendations for action (I)

• Ensure equity for existing faculty• Enhance outreach to convince women of

attractiveness of faculty career• Ensure transparency and dissemination of tenure and

promotion policies• Collect data on representation and publicize progress

Recommendations for action (II)

• Celebrate accomplishments of successful women and create networking opportunities

• Address work/life balance issues– Increasingly, benefits male faculty too!

• Secure a strong personal commitment from institutional leadership

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

どうもありがとう。