Leak or link? the overrepresentation of women in non-tenure-track academic positions in STEM

PLoS One. 2022 Jun 8;17(6):e0267561. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0267561. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

This paper examines gender variation in departures from the tenure-track science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) academic career pathway to non-tenure-track academic careers. We integrate multiple data sources including the Survey of Earned Doctorates and the Survey of Doctorate Recipients to examine longitudinal career outcomes of STEM doctorate women. We consider three types of careers after receipt of a PhD: academic, academic non-tenure-track, and non-academic positions. We find that STEM women are more likely to hold academic non-tenure-track positions, which are associated with lower job satisfaction and lower salaries among men and women. Explanations including differences in field of study, preparation in graduate school, and family structure only explain 35 percent of the gender gap in non-tenure-track academic positions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Career Mobility
  • Engineering*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Job Satisfaction
  • Male
  • Mathematics*
  • Science*
  • Sexism / trends*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Technology*

Grants and funding

Work for this paper was funded by National Science Foundation grant 1823479 (MZ, KE, SR). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. https://nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1823479&HistoricalAwards=false