https://journalofcontroversialideas.org/article/6/1/313/htm

A recent peer-reviewed article by two Cornell professors discusses biases in academic departments. The article reviews and summarizes most of the research regarding discrimination in academia over the last 35 years, especially focusing on bias in selection for tenure-track positions. The researchers conclude that "people’s understanding of sexism against women in academic science is being deliberately controlled and molded by those with a political and personal stake in the narrative."

Summary:

  1. Strong claims of discrimination against women in academic departments are frequently made in prestigious science media, and surveys show widespread belief that this discrimination is proven and commonplace. However, a multitude of highly credible peer-reviewed studies have disproven this idea for years.
  2. A 5-year adversarial collaboration review article was discussed: While evidence of discrimination does exist in some categories (a 3.6% pay gap—not the commonly cited 18% gap—and more negative student reviews for female professors), the review article found no evidence of discrimination in grants, journals, and letters of recommendation. Evidence of discrimination against men was found in the category of tenure-track hiring (Ceci et al., 2023).
  3. After noting frequent claims of bias against women in tenure-track hiring made by prestigious scientific news outlets such as Nature, the researchers further examined studies on tenure-track hiring. Specifically, they looked at matched-CV experiments, concluding that "The female advantage in the six studies is often quite large; women are preferred over men between 56% and 75% of the time (these are large effects)." Next, they examined real-world statistical data on hiring for STEM positions, finding that "women were less likely to apply for tenure-track jobs than men, but when women did apply they were hired more often than men." In one study, women were offered twice as many interviews per application compared with men. The most common reason for women choosing not to apply for tenure-track positions was a desire to start a family.
  4. An informal survey was conducted of 40 active gender researchers, and 18 of the researchers surveyed "described various threats and harassment they encountered as a direct result of their findings." The researchers conclude that fear of discrimination and backlash is likely a common reason for not doing research in the field or publishing results.