Bias Persists Against Women of Science, a Study Says

toblotron · 2012-09-25T10:19:33+00:00

I was surprised by the results of this study, and think this merits further inquiry. Repeat studies should be made, looking as well at other fields of science, and other countries. It doesn't give the impression that this had been an Expensive study to perform, so I hope people will perfom additional studies that may give us more clues.

It would be interesting to read some interviews with the subjects, as to how they themselves account for it.

Myself I have not perceived that there is a bias like this, but then again I have no experience of the enviroment where the study was performed.

The only (possible) explanation that comes to me - at the top of my head - is that they may assume women to want to take more time off than men, for care of children and so on, but that's (of course) just a guess.

qronick · 2012-09-25T01:33:22+00:00

Sample size: 127. Not huge, although the statistics in the original paper are apparently pretty thorough. Nevertheless, that does not seem nearly enough to make the claim "The bias had no relation to the professors’ age, sex, teaching field or tenure status." All the materials are available at the link (not provided by the NYT) although I confess I have neither the time nor the inclination to read it through.

The conclusions, of course, rest on the presumption that a woman with the identical application materials to a man should be viewed in the same light as that man. That, ipso facto, men and women have the same potential given the same antecedents and the same opportunities in any given field. Many of us here might contest that if we could do so safely.

Besides the different intrinsic gender context, there is also the cultural context. Does the study make any allowance for the liability of hiring a woman versus a man in the current climate of power between the sexes? E.g. it's much easier to fire an incompetent man than an incompetent woman.

Yah, whatever, there are plenty of ways to pick at this. What it really needs is a more multidimensional sample although I guess that one data point is better than none.

ThePigman · 2012-09-25T02:33:33+00:00

"They contacted professors in the biology, chemistry and physics departments at six major research universities."

Even if this study is honest, one has to wonder what would happen if they did something similar using professors in fields like psychology.

Title	Bias Persists Against Women of Science, a Study Says
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	1
Comments	4
Date	September 25, 2012 1:07 AM UTC (13 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/10fa8b/bias_persists_against_women_of_science_a_study/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/bias-persists-against-women-of-science-a-study.1012819 https://theredarchive.com/post/1012819

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