Lack Of Female Role Models Research Articles

Explaining male predominance at the apex of intellectual achievement

One view attributes male predominance at the apex of intellectual achievement partly to some innate ability differences. Another view attributes it only to such social factors as socialization practices, lack of female role models, glass ceilings and male gatekeepers downplaying female achievement. The present study examined sex differences in performance at the top in international chess. This domain allows controls over the latter two social factors because chess has an objective performance measure based on game results and little of a glass ceiling as most tournaments are open to all and talent can rise quickly. The sex difference in performance in the top 10 and 50 of all international players is large at about one standard deviation and stayed roughly constant from 1975 to 2014. A large difference remained when examined over number of rated games played and also occurred, but not as strongly, with Georgian players, who have a high female participation rate. Male predominance in chess and related domains may be due partly to sex differences in innate abilities.

Still staying away: Women and the economics major and #8211; evidence from two Southern liberal arts colleges

This article extends the literature that examines the underlying reasons for the gender imbalance in the field of economics. Previous research suggests that women are less likely to major in economics because of the lack of female role models in the subject (Ashworth and Evans 1999), math anxiety (Dynan and Rouse 1997), and the influence of parents' education levels (Leppel 2001) and career preferences (Turner and Bowen 1999). These papers have focused on data collected from nonsectarian, coeducational institutions located in the Northern United States. We focus our analysis on the choice of major at two Southern liberal arts colleges, Davidson College, which is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, and Salem College, a women’s college that is affiliated with the Moravian Church. We find that women are still less likely to major in economics than men, and that attending a women’s college has no effect on this result. However, we find that the likelihood of majoring in economics rises if students have a female instructor for an economics course, if they have completed calculus in high school, or if they perceive that their job prospects are better after majoring in economics.

Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation

Our science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workforce is crucial to America’s innovative capacity and global competitiveness. Yet women are vastly underrepresented in STEM jobs and among STEM degree holders despite making up nearly half of the U.S. workforce and half of the college-educated workforce. That leaves an untapped opportunity to expand STEM employment in the United States, even as there is wide agreement that the nation must do more to improve its competitiveness.Although women fill close to half of all jobs in the U.S. economy, they hold less than 25 percent of STEM jobs. This has been the case throughout the past decade, even as college-educated women have increased their share of the overall workforce.Women with STEM jobs earned 33 percent more than comparable women in non-STEM jobs – considerably higher than the STEM premium for men. As a result, the gender wage gap is smaller in STEM jobs than in non-STEM jobs.Women hold a disproportionately low share of STEM undergraduate degrees, particularly in engineering.Women with a STEM degree are less likely than their male counterparts to work in a STEM occupation; they are more likely to work in education or healthcare.There are many possible factors contributing to the discrepancy of women and men in STEM jobs, including: a lack of female role models, gender stereotyping, and less family-friendly flexibility in the STEM fields. Regardless of the causes, the findings of this report provide evidence of a need to encourage and support women in STEM.

Transitioning to Academic Psychiatry While Maintaining Balance: Working Smarter, Not Harder

“Do not even bother talking to him . . . he just will not get it.” That was the advice given to me by a senior female faculty member when I sought her help finding a mentor—someone to guide me in my transition from private practitioner to academic researcher. This confidante was keenly aware that some faculty members would understand a nontraditional route to academic psychiatry and others would not. Some would welcome the opportunity to mentor me—a senior clinician and educator—in clinical research, while others would view this with as much enthusiasm as buying a “re-tread” (a pejorative term sometimes applied to those of us making midcareer changes). This commentary is primarily a personal account of my career path in psychiatry. From my experiences and interactions with dozens of residents and faculty, a number of insights have emerged regarding how to balance family responsibilities while developing an academic career. I hope that sharing these ideas will help readers with academic interests develop an individualized career-development strategy and provide program directors some suggestions for enhancing career-development opportunities within residency training. I came to academic psychiatry via a nontraditional path, but an interest in research has been evident in my entire medical career. Also, my commitment to raising a family has been equally strong. As a medical student and resident, I had no formal exposure to the topic of career development or work–family balance; however, what I absorbed informally made a significant impression. While in medical school, I worked on an epidemiologic study designed to detect risk factors for congenital cardiac malformations. My mentor was a female physician and full professor who, I noted, had never married or had children. During my psychiatry residency years, I saw more of the same: few female professors and only two married female physician full professors. Why does this disparity exist? Has the representation of women at medical schools changed since I completed residency? How can this gender-gap in academic medicine be further narrowed? How can male and female faculty better balance work and family? The most recent annual report (2007–2008) from the Association of American Medical Colleges (1) answers some of these questions. In its analysis of cohorts from 2002 and 2007, women represented 47% and 49% of enrolled medical students and 38% and 45% of residents and fellows, respectively. (Interestingly, between 1997 and 2007, psychiatry has shown the largest percentagepoint decrease [–3.3%] in female residents of any medical specialty.) As women progress from trainee to faculty status, their representation declines. In 2002 and 2007, 30% and 34% of all medical school faculty members were women. In 2007, women represented 40% of assistant professors, 29% of associate professors, and 17% of full professors. Thus, despite progress, a disproportionate number of female medical students fail to progress to residency, and an even greater number choose not to enter academic medicine. Those who do join a faculty are increasingly underrepresented in seniority. One explanation for this “leaky pipeline” is the continued lack of female role-models in senior academic positions. Another is the longstanding issue of balancing work and family (2). According to the American Association of University Professors, the ideal academic worker is one with few personal obligations (3). This model puts at a disadvantage those individuals who are unable to spend as Received October 7, 2009; revised December 10, 2009; accepted February 2, 2010. Dr. Chisolm is affiliated with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Baltimore, M.D., Address correspondence to Dr. Margaret Chisolm, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, 5300 Alpha Commons Dr., Alpha Commons Building, 4th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21224. Mchisol1@jhmi.edu (e-mail). Copyright © 2011 Academic Psychiatry

Sara J. Shettleworth

Sara J. Shettleworth

Female leaders in an international evangelical mission organisation: an empirical study of Youth With A Mission in Germany

Evangelicals are frequently perceived as conservative, for instance in their perspective on women. There is indeed a widespread evangelical hierarchical or complementarian theological view which objects to women in church leadership. There is, however, a growing egalitarian counter position, sometimes also referred to as “evangelical feminism”, which supports female leadership. This article concentrates on the international missionary organisation Youth With A Mission (YWAM), which clearly endorses female leaders in formal statements. In YWAM Germany, however, women are under-represented in leadership positions. The article seeks to explain this under-representation, especially in terms of the role played by Scripture. By means of interviews with leaders in YWAM Germany, possible answers were explored. Surprisingly, for an evangelical organisation, the interpretation of Scripture proved not to be a significant factor. Factors that do play a role are church background, the lack of female role models, lower self-confidence of women, family responsibilities, and the role of incumbent leadership. The latter appears to be the most crucial factor, since the incumbent leaders, who mostly are men, select and appoint new leaders. It is likely that in this they are influenced by stereotypical conceptions of the leader as male and are inclined to appoint leaders similar to themselves.

Leadership and psychological roles of female coaches in sports and physical education

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the leadership and psychological roles of female coaches. More specifically, it literally reviewed the roles of gender in coaching sports and physical education classes. Coaching clearly involves more than educating athletes about technical aspects of their sports. In attempting to elicit maximal performances from athletes under their tutelage, coaches must draw upon and develop in their athletes' resources of a distinctly psychological character. Coaching tasks such as motivating athletes, building team cohesion, facilitating the setting of goals, and communicating effectively with athletes are clearly psychological in nature. It was found that the athletes' perceptions of the correspondence between their attitudes and values and those of the coach might have a real impact in the athletic arena. Females tend to be perceived as more nurturing, sensitive, understanding and better listeners than males. This is due to males who are always competing with each other. Therefore males are not as supportive or caring as females. However, it is difficult for females to be coaches because of the negative bias against female coaches held by other male athletes. This resulted to lack of female role models. Fasting and Pfister's (2000) study indicated that male coaches are more often characterized by a “masculine” style of interaction, and the female soccer players felt that male coaches have not taken them seriously. The players seemed to be more satisfied with female because of their female style of communication. They believed that female coaches were better psychologists. It is also suggested that attitudes toward female coaches are changing, but preferences for male coaches may still exist, especially in traditionally masculine sports. African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance Vol. 13 (1) 2007: pp. 59-70

Women in the UK academic medicine workforce

This study aimed to compare data on the employment profiles (such as grade, place of work, etc.) of male and female clinical academics. We carried out a comparative review of workforce data within academic medicine for 2004 and 2005, pertaining to the workforce in all specialties in UK medical schools. We identified 3255 and 3365 lecturers, senior lecturers, readers and professors in 2004 and 2005, respectively, of whom 21% were women. In 2004 and 2005, 12% and 11%, respectively, of 1157 and 1364 UK medical professors were women. The number of women filling such positions in individual schools ranged from 0% to 33% across schools. The total numbers of women post-holders and their full-time equivalents were similar, indicating that the majority of posts were full-time. In England only 1 in 10 medical clinical professors are women. At the onset of the study period, 6 medical schools employed no female professors, with a consequent lack of female role models at these institutions. Large variations between schools suggest that some workforce practices may be detrimental to women's academic careers.

Influences on Medical Student Career Choice

We hypothesized that increased enrollment of female medical students and different priorities of the current generation of students would be important influences on the declining interest in surgical careers. Students scored statements on surgical careers on 5-point Likert scales regarding agreement and whether these statements encouraged them to pursue a career in surgery. Data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test. Qualitative comments were iteratively coded using a constant comparative method. Nine US medical schools. A Web-based survey on the Association for Surgical Education server was e-mailed to medical students. A total of 1300 of the 1365 respondents stated their sex. The survey asked questions pertaining to surgical life, surgical residency, surgeons as influence, equity, family, and other influences. A total of 680 (52%) of the 1300 respondents were male. Men and women disagreed about whether surgeons lead well-balanced lives (68% and 77%, respectively) and saw this as a deterrent. A total of 35% of women (3% men; P<.001) were discouraged by a lack of female role models. Compared with students unlikely to study surgery, lower percentages of male (74% vs 65%) and female students (85% vs 58%) likely to study surgery agreed that career choice was influenced by their decision to have a family (P=.01 for men, P<.001 for women). Of medical students who agreed that their skill sets were compatible with surgical careers, similar percentages were likely (30% men vs 24% women) and unlikely (49% men vs 54% women) to study surgery. All differences between men and women were less apparent when students likely to study surgery were compared with students unlikely to study surgery. The decision to have a family was a more significant influence for women than men, but family and lifestyle priorities were also important to male students, supporting our hypothesis that generation and gender are both important influences on career choices.

Why are women deterred from general surgery training?

Background This study explored the factors contributing to the low application rates to general surgery (GS) residency by female students and compared perceptions of GS between students and female surgeons. Methods We distributed surveys to final-year students at 4 medical schools and nationwide to every female general surgeon in Canada. Results Of students who were deterred from GS, women were less likely than men to meet a same-sex GS role model and more likely to experience gender-based discrimination during their GS rotation ( P < .05). Female students had the perception that GS was incompatible with a rewarding family life, happy marriage, or having children, whereas female surgeons were far more positive about their career choice. Conclusions Both real and perceived barriers may deter women from a career in GS. Real barriers include sex-based discrimination and a lack of female role models in GS. There are also clear differences in perception between students and surgeons regarding family and lifestyle in GS that must be addressed.

ARE GENDER DIFFERENCES IN HIGH ACHIEVEMENT DISAPPEARING? A TEST IN ONE INTELLECTUAL DOMAIN

Males traditionally predominate at upper achievement levels. One general view holds that this is due only to various social factors such as the 'glass ceiling' and lack of female role models. Another view holds that it occurs partly because of innate ability differences, with more males being at upper ability levels. In the last few decades, women have become more achievement focused and competitive and have gained many more opportunities to achieve. The present study examined one intellectual domain, international chess, to quantify its gender differences in achievement and to see if these have been diminishing with the societal changes. Chess is a good test domain because it is a meritocracy, it has objective performance measures, and longitudinal data of a whole population are available. Performance ratings overall and in the top 10, 50 and 100 players of each sex show large gender differences and little convergence over the past three decades, although a few females have become high achievers. The distribution of performance ratings on the January 2004 list shows a higher male mean and evidence for more male variation, just as with traits such as height. Career patterns of players first on the list between 1985 and 1989 show that top males and females entered the list at about the same age but females tend to play fewer games and have shorter careers. In this domain at least, the male predominance is large and has remained roughly constant despite societal changes.

Contextual and Cognitive Determinants of Procedural Justice Perceptions in Promotion Barriers for Women

The relationships between procedural justice in promotion decisions for women and contextual factors deemed as contributing to glass ceilings were examined. The contextual factors examined were a lack of female role models, limited networking opportunities for women, gender segregation, and formal career ladders. It was found that gender schema is a moderator between procedural justice and the perceived number of female role models and between procedural justice and the perception of formal career ladders. Although gender schema was not a moderator in the relationship between procedural justice and gender segregation, nor in the relationship between procedural justice and networking opportunities for women, a significant main effect was found. These results are consistent with the notion that organizational justice perceptions are products of individual cognitive processes, which develop in response to cultural expectations.

Glass ceiling issues in the UK library profession

Reports results of a study to determine whether the UK library profession suffers from so-called ‘intraoccupational sex segregation’ whereby men dominate the senior positions within the profession’s institutions. Particular attention is paid to the so-called ‘glass ceiling’ whereby women find a barrier to promotion when they reach their forties but who have up until then enjoyed a reasonably successful career. The perceived barriers are considered, including: lack of academic qualifications; salary differences; geographical mobility; domestic responsibilities; lack of female role models; the need for mentors; and lack of ambition. A questionnaire survey was undertaken involving randomly chosen members of the Library Association using electronic mail and post with telephone interviews conducted with some of the respondents used to complement the questionnaire and to expand on issues arising. Results indicated that glass ceiling issues in libraries are still concerns for many women in the profession. The lack of qualifications do not seem to pose a barrier to promotion and the main barrier appears to be due to domestic responsibilities, particularly taking a career break to bring up children. Concludes that, for many women, the glass ceiling is imposed by themselves. It is often their choice to take a career break or to move to a new location for the sake of their husband’s or partner’s job, and it is their choice to put the needs of their family first before their own career ambitions. For many of the older women in the sample, the choice they had to make was between having children and having a career.

Glass ceiling issues in the UK library profession

Reports results of a study to determine whether the UK library profession suffers from so-called ‘intraoccupational sex segregation’ whereby men dominate the senior positions within the profession’s institutions. Particular attention is paid to the so-called ‘glass ceiling’ whereby women find a barrier to promotion when they reach their forties but who have up until then enjoyed a reasonably successful career. The perceived barriers are considered, including: lack of academic qualifications; salary differences; geographical mobility; domestic responsibilities; lack of female role models; the need for mentors; and lack of ambition. A questionnaire survey was undertaken involving randomly chosen members of the Library Association using electronic mail and post with telephone interviews conducted with some of the respondents used to complement the questionnaire and to expand on issues arising. Results indicated that glass ceiling issues in libraries are still concerns for many women in the profession. The lack of qualifications do not seem to pose a barrier to promotion and the main barrier appears to be due to domestic responsibilities, particularly taking a career break to bring up children. Concludes that, for many women, the glass ceiling is imposed by themselves. It is often their choice to take a career break or to move to a new location for the sake of their husband’s or partner’s job, and it is their choice to put the needs of their family first before their own career ambitions. For many of the older women in the sample, the choice they had to make was between having children and having a career.

Election 2001 The Silent Majority: Women

This paper seeks to examine how well the political parties have targeted women and identifies political marketing as a means of creating voter satisfaction. It starts by examining the differences and changes in the number of women MPs following the general election in June 2001 compared with the outcome of the election in 1997. Voter behaviour and the lack of female role models in politics are then considered. The use of market segmentation is discussed. The paper concludes that political parties need to utilise segmentation in a more sensitive way to attract the silent majority of women and ensure their political success.

‘Not Rewarding’, ‘Not Relevant’, ‘Not Interesting’: Career Choices of Female Economics Students

AbstractIncreasing female participation rates in undergraduate economics programs are not reflected in increasing female representation in the ranks of academic economists. Approximately 42 per cent of undergraduate students are women but the percentage of women participating declines in postgraduate programs and in academic positions in economics departments, where approximately 26 per cent of academics are women. Female representation in the academic labour market has an importance beyond its numbers. A lack of female role models and mentors among academics is one factor that may affect students’ motivation and career aspirations. We use the results of a national survey of Australian economics students to assess the relative importance of a number of factors in the career choices for postgraduate and undergraduate students in economics. We assess the factors that make academia an unattractive career choice for females.

The Underrepresentation of Women in Economics: A Study of Undergraduate Economics Students

Although women are underrepresented in the filed of economics, many people see little need for intervention, arguing that women are inherently less interested in economics, or are less willing or able to acquire the math skills needed to do well in the subject. At the same time, others support active efforts to increase the number of women in the field, pointing to other possible causes of their current underrepresentation. These people argue, for example, that women are deterred from entering the field because of a lack of female role models, or that women are discouraged by an unappealing classroom environment. This study attempts to assess these hypotheses. We examine the factors that influence undergraduate students' decisions to become economics majors by analyzing a survey of students in the introductory economics course at Harvard University as well as data on an entire class of students from Harvard's registrar. We find that although women in the introductory economics course at Harvard tend to begin the course with a weaker math background than men, math background does not appear to explain much of the gender difference in students' decisions about whether to major in economics. The class environment and the presence or absence of role models also do not explain much of the gender gap. On the other hand, women do less well in economics relative to their other courses than men do, and controlling for this difference in relative performance significantly diminishes the estimated gender gap. An economically large, but statistically insignificant, difference between sexes in the probability of majoring in economics remains, however. This remaining gender gap may be due to differing tastes or information about the nature of economics. As evidence, we find that women who were considering majoring in economics when they began introductory economics were about as likely to choose economics as were men.

The Underrepresentation of Women in Economics: A Study of Undergraduate Economics Students

Although women are underrepresented in the field of economics, many see little need for intervention, arguing that women are inherently less interested in economics, or are less willing or able to get the math skills skills needed to do well in the subject. At the same time, others support active efforts to increase the number of women in the field, citing other possible causes of their current underrepresentation. These people argue, for example, that women are deterred from entering the field because of a lack of female role models, or that women are discouraged by an unappealing classroom environment. This study assesses these hypotheses by examining factors that influence undergraduate students' decisions to become economics majors using a survey of students in the introductory economics course at Harvard University as well as data on an entire class of students from Harvard's registrar. We find that although women in the introductory economics course at Harvard tend to begin the course with a weaker math background than men, math background does not explain much of the gender difference in students' decisions about majoring in economics. The class environment and the presence or absence of role models also do not explain much of the gender gap. On the other hand, women do less well in economics relative to other courses than men do, and controlling for this difference in relative performance significantly diminishes the estimated gender gap. An economically large but statistically insignificant difference between sexes in the probability of majoring in economics remains, however, which may be due to differing tastes or information about the nature of economics.

Gender and Lowi's Thesis: Implications for Career Advancement

Representative bureaucracy and female parity at all levels in public organizations are attainable yet unrealized goals. Many years have elapsed since the passage of Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action legislation, yet women continue to be underrepresented at the top of the organizational hierarchy. Frederickson's (1990) compound theory of social equity delineates organizational equality into block and segmented. Block equality is a holistic approach to the concept of equality that views overall representational concerns among groups within an organization. Segmented equality views representation at various levels within the organization. Upper-level management positions in state governments are one such level, or segment. Although block equality has been achieved, segmented equality remains elusive. Women continue to be compressed into the lower levels of public agencies, and concentrated into traditionally defined female-type occupations; in other words, under glass ceilings and within glass walls. Although women fill 46 percent of federal white-collar jobs, they hold only 15 percent of GM-13 to GM-15 positions Lewis, 1990). At the top of the federal government hierarchy, women hold only 12 percent of the Senior Executive Service positions (U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, 1992). Women fare somewhat better at the state government level. According to a recent study by Bullard and Wright (1993), 20 percent of executives in state governments are women. An ongoing empirical study organized by Kelly addresses a number of issues related to the integration of women into the managerial ranks of state government administrations (Kelly et al, 1991). To date, the study has been undertaken in seven states (Arizona, Texas, California, Alabama, Wisconsin, Utah, and Florida). The proportion of women in the upper-management levels of these seven state governments ranges from 13 percent in the Arizona civil service, to 25 percent in Texas. In reviewing the current literature, a common theme emerges; a search for responses to the question, What variables should we manipulate to improve the status of women in public administration? Variables may be clustered into three categories: human capital variables, sociopsychological variables, and systemic variables (Newman, 1993). Human capital barriers are identified as insufficient education, dysfunctional choices, domestic constraints, limited financial resources, and insufficient experience. Social psychological barriers include sex-role socialization, sex-role stereotypes/role prejudice, negative perceptions of women's capacity for managing, questionable motivation, and limiting self-concepts. Systemic barriers manifest themselves as sex segregation in the labor force, differential career ladder opportunities, sex segregation of domestic labor, limited access to professional training, limited access to informal networks, lack of mentors, veterans preference, lack of power, sexual harassment, perceived lack of compatibility, and the lack of female role models for women. In each category, the unit of analysis is the individual. Manipulation of these variables results in prescriptive policies aimed at lowering or removing these barriers. This approach is valid, yet incomplete. Using the nature of organizations as the unit of analysis allows us to view the problem through a different lens. In the process, a more fundamental question arises. Are all organizations created equal? In other words, do opportunity structures differ according to an agency's mission? Are some agencies more conducive to women's career advancement than others? In seeking a response to these questions, I examined the nature of organizations from a theoretical standpoint. A case study of the state of Florida Senior Management Service executives underscores the implications of theory in practice in terms of work experiences and structures of opportunity. …

Source of stress in women junior house officers.

To determine the causes of stress in women doctors and relate these to levels of depression. Questionnaire study. Of 92 women doctors who had graduated from the universities of Leeds, Manchester, and Sheffield in 1986 and had been working as junior house officers for eight months 70 (76%) returned completed questionnaires. Mean score on the general health questionnaire was 13.79 (SD 5.20) and on the symptom checklist for depression was 1.43 (0.83). The scores of 32 subjects (46%) were above the criterion for clinical depression. Overwork was perceived as creating the most strain, followed by effects on personal life, serious failures of treatment, and talking to distressed relatives. Both stress and depression were related to effects on personal life, overwork, relations with consultants, and making decisions. Sex related sources of stress were conflicts between career and personal life, sexual harassment at work, a lack of female role models, and prejudice from patients. In addition to these, discrimination by senior doctors was related to depression. Changes are needed in the career paths of women doctors, and could be implemented.