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posted by CoolHand on Monday April 20 2015, @11:49PM   Printer-friendly
from the gender-equality dept.

A Chemistry World article summarizes a study by Cornell University psychologists Wendy Williams and Stephen Ceci finding that faculty members asked to evaluate hypothetical male and female applicants for assistant professorships in biology, engineering, economics, and psychology gave preference to female applicants. Quoting the study:

The underrepresentation of women in academic science is typically attributed, both in scientific literature and in the media, to sexist hiring. Here we report five hiring experiments in which faculty evaluated hypothetical female and male applicants, using systematically varied profiles disguising identical scholarship, for assistant professorships in biology, engineering, economics, and psychology. Contrary to prevailing assumptions, men and women faculty members from all four fields preferred female applicants 2:1 over identically qualified males with matching lifestyles (single, married, divorced), with the exception of male economists, who showed no gender preference. Comparing different lifestyles revealed that women preferred divorced mothers to married fathers and that men preferred mothers who took parental leaves to mothers who did not. Our findings, supported by real-world academic hiring data, suggest advantages for women launching academic science careers.

The article concludes:

To be hired, women must first apply and the authors question whether ‘omniprescent and discouraging’ messages about sexism in academic appointments makes them reluctant to do so.

 
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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 21 2015, @12:03AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 21 2015, @12:03AM (#173331)

    Macrumors shuttles these types of political posts to another board because they got so predictably huge and pointless.

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  • (Score: 5, Funny) by Nerdfest on Tuesday April 21 2015, @01:23AM

    by Nerdfest (80) on Tuesday April 21 2015, @01:23AM (#173352)

    Well, that and because they're a religious site not a technical or political one.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 21 2015, @03:13PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 21 2015, @03:13PM (#173545)

    And no one really cares what macrumors does. IMHO its a shite site.