Research Presented at Conventions: How Well Are Women Doing?

Abstract

In 1989, the Association for Education in journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) passed a resolution pledging to increase representation by women and minorities on journalism and mass communication faculties and among administrators to 50 percent by the year 2000.(1) The organization itself reflected a gender disparity. A census of its membership in 1992 by Viswanath, Kosicki, and Creedon revealed that women accounted for just 28 percent of membership in 1992,(2) up from the 24 percent reported in Schamber's 1988 study of the organization.(3) Viswanath et al. also reported that a greater proportion of men hold the doctorate or its equivalent, and that male faculty are more to be supported by graduate assistants than are female faculty.(4) These findings would suggest that scholarship by women in AEJMC is probably at a percentage rate lower than their employment rate. However, Dupagne, Potter, and Cooper determined in their study of eight communication journals that scholarship by women (single-gender and in collaboration with men) in 1989 accounted for 39.5 percent of the published research(5) during a period when females accounted for about 20 percent of journalism and mass communication faculty.(6) They concluded that the perception that females account for fewer published articles than males is accurate, but that the amount of research productivity by women is linked to their low numbers in the profession, not to a condition of underachievement. While offering some evidence to reconcile the research tools deficit suggested by Viswanath et al.,(7) Dupagne and his coauthors also expressed concern that it was possible, and even likely that the results of their gender productivity study would be different if other segments of literature were considered. They suggested future research should consider regional journals, non-refereed journals, monographs, books, and convention papers. Additionally, the authors said that by limiting their study to published articles they were unable to determine whether research preferences existed between genders. They suggested that women may not pursue certain research topics because they believed them to be unpopular with journal reviewers.(8) Hesitation by the authors to apply their findings beyond refereed journals calls for further testing of their conclusion that women are producing research at a per capita rate much higher than men. The authors of this article consider gender productivity issues left unresolved by the Dupagne et al. study through an analysis of refereed convention papers, as suggested by the authors of the earlier work. The population of refereed papers accepted to the conventions of AEJMC over a seven-year period are considered here. Also, by using divisions as categories of research interest, this study is able to go beyond the findings of Dupagne et al. by identifying research preferences by gender. While an extension of the Dupagne et al. work is central to this study, these findings also will provide members with a viewing of gender rates and preferences within their organization. This knowledge will supply a measure of evidence as to whether progress has been made toward meeting the spirit of the 1989 convention resolution, which seeks equal representation by women. Additionally, since many journal articles are first submitted to conventions, an increase or decrease in scholarship by women presenting to the conventions of AEJMC is one indicator as to whether journals should expect an increase or decrease in publishing by women. The Dupagne et al. study considered journal publishing from 1965 to 1989; this study could assist journal editors and readers in predicting the gender mix of the future since it considers convention papers from 1987 to 1993. Editors of three primary AEJMC mass communication journals--Journalism Educator, Journalism Quarterly and Newspaper Research Journal --all expressed the belief that the acceptance of a research paper to the annual convention is an indicator of the ability to eventually produce journal articles. …