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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: 2) by Nerdfest on Tuesday April 21 2015, @01:25AM

    by Nerdfest (80) on Tuesday April 21 2015, @01:25AM (#173353)

    Unlikely. When was the last time you saw a push to get more men into nursing?

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 21 2015, @02:07AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 21 2015, @02:07AM (#173361)

    There is a line in the pamphlets at one of my colleges about the demand for male nurses. Of course those schools also provide full rides for interested female CS students that show aptitude. Apparently most years nobody even applies for it.

    Disclosure: I am male and am in the running for a full ride scholarship that is not gender or program exclusive, which few people apply for either. I'm crossing my fingers as it usually goes to, oddly, women in the nursing program.

  • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday April 21 2015, @06:03PM

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Tuesday April 21 2015, @06:03PM (#173601) Journal

    Unlikely. When was the last time you saw a push to get more men into nursing?

     
    Google: "campaign to attract males into nursing"
     
    About 16,300,000 results (0.61 seconds)
     
    Have you ever actually verified this oft repeated talking point?

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 21 2015, @06:16PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 21 2015, @06:16PM (#173608)

      Wow. There are 16,300,000 programs to get males into nursing? Or maybe it is 16,300,000 hits that all refer to the one place that has such a push? Or maybe it could just be that Google hits are a useless statistic in this case?

      • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday April 21 2015, @08:35PM

        by DeathMonkey (1380) on Tuesday April 21 2015, @08:35PM (#173659) Journal

        There are 16,300,000 programs to get males into nursing? Or maybe it is 16,300,000 hits that all refer to the one place that has such a push? Or maybe it could just be that Google hits are a useless statistic in this case?
         
        Or, you could try typing it into Google and finding out for yourself.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 21 2015, @09:23PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 21 2015, @09:23PM (#173676)

          No one is going to look beyond the first few pages. Google is literally useless for this.

        • (Score: 3, Informative) by FatPhil on Tuesday April 21 2015, @11:15PM

          by FatPhil (863) <reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}> on Tuesday April 21 2015, @11:15PM (#173737) Homepage
          Otsing "campaign to attract males into nursing" ei andnud tulemusi.
          Tulemused campaign to attract males into nursing (jutumärkideta):

          Translation - if you keep the quotes in, there are *NO* hits.
          --
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