Proportions of Women in STEM Leadership in the Academy in the USA

Laura Mccullough

doi:10.3390/educsci10010001

Laura Mccullough

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10010001

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Journal: Education sciences	Publication Date: Dec 18, 2019
Citations: 27	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Wisconsin–Stout

Abstract

A considerable body of research exists on women in leadership and likewise, on women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields. However, the intersection of the two is terra incognita: women in leadership in STEM. At the most fundamental level, we do not even have a solid idea of how many women hold leadership positions in STEM. This study determined the proportion of women in leadership positions in several academic STEM areas via a sampling of institutions across the United States. In every area studied, women held fewer leadership positions than the proportion of female PhDs in those fields. The proportion of women in non-STEM specific top academic leadership roles was also examined to see what proportion of those individuals leading academic institutions might have background in a STEM discipline and how that compares to men in the same positions.

Highlights

In 2018, the United States saw an unprecedented number of women running for leadership roles in government at all levels [1]
A background in STEM was common among the institutional leaders in these institutions; a reassuring trend for schools known for their STEM areas
It is noteworthy that there was a higher proportion of women at the highest level of leadership as compared to the two levels down

Summary

Introduction

In 2018, the United States saw an unprecedented number of women running for leadership roles in government at all levels [1]. This is part of a broader movement in our society that has seen women becoming more involved in leadership of every kind [2], as well as a general rebalancing of power dynamics between men and women, which involves everything from a desire for fair pay [3] to an effort to address the increasingly visible issue of sexual harassment [4]. Within STEM, there is a wide variation in the participation of women, with the biological sciences granting 60% of bachelor’s degrees to females, and computer sciences only 19% [6].

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