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posted by janrinok on Friday October 23 2015, @10:25AM   Printer-friendly
from the wot,-no-bias? dept.

This headline "Women have substantial advantage in STEM faculty hiring, except when competing against more-accomplished men" over at Frontiers caught my eye this morning. After an admittedly quick read (look, I'm busy, do you want a non-paypal cc processor or not?), I decided it was at least worth a sub. Here's the paper's summary:

Audits of tenure-track hiring reveal faculty prefer to hire female applicants over males. However, audit data do not control for applicant quality, allowing some to argue women are hired at higher rates because they are more qualified. To test this, Williams and Ceci (2015) conducted an experiment demonstrating a preference for hiring women over identically-qualified men. While their findings are consistent with audits, they raise the specter that faculty may prefer women over even more-qualified men, a claim made recently. We evaluated this claim in the present study: 158 faculty ranked two men and one woman for a tenure-track-assistant professorship, and 94 faculty ranked two women and one man. In the former condition, the female applicant was slightly weaker than her two male competitors, although still strong; in the other condition the male applicant was slightly weaker than his two female competitors, although still strong. Faculty of both genders and in all fields preferred the more-qualified men over the slightly-less-qualified women, and they also preferred the stronger women over the slightly-less-qualified man. This suggests that preference for women among identically-qualified applicants found in experimental studies and in audits does not extend to women whose credentials are even slightly weaker than male counterparts. Thus these data give no support to the twin claims that weaker males are chosen over stronger females or weaker females are hired over stronger males.

You may now commence flaming without having RTFA.


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by bradley13 on Friday October 23 2015, @11:04AM

    by bradley13 (3053) on Friday October 23 2015, @11:04AM (#253561) Homepage Journal

    That's more-or-less what you want - so this is just quietly reassuring. In an ideal world, equally qualified applicants would be a coin flip. Failing that, it's nice to know that any discrimination (in whichever direction) is secondary to qualifications.

    --
    Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday October 23 2015, @11:33AM

      by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Friday October 23 2015, @11:33AM (#253565) Homepage

      The fact is that many people don't enjoy sausage-fests.

      Horny motherfuckers want to get the occasional whiff of perfume or conditioner, or hear the occasional soothing female voice if they're gonna be stuck somewhere 40+ hours a week. If one or more of the women are hot, all the better. And anybody can tell which women are wearing thongs -- all of them. Even fat chicks wear thongs nowadays.

      Not to mention being able to tout your diversity and fairness in hiring practices.

  • (Score: 1) by Aurean on Friday October 23 2015, @12:15PM

    by Aurean (4924) on Friday October 23 2015, @12:15PM (#253571)
    I had set up a call center in India back in 2010; Here's some research; hope it helps. Note that currency is in INR at the prevailing rate at the time (~50 INR to 1 USD) unless specifies USD. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18TblIROyS6w8XmqFqY_HBVRMqMSlRolDU_VrAhacStg/edit?usp=sharing [google.com]
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday October 23 2015, @01:58PM

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Friday October 23 2015, @01:58PM (#253594) Homepage Journal

      I get why this was modded Spam but it wasn't. It's arguably OffTopic and definitely commercial, which would normally qualify, but I did bring up coding billing in the summary. Spam moderation undone but no mod-ban cause we prefer to err on the side of giving people the benefit of the doubt.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
  • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by kurenai.tsubasa on Friday October 23 2015, @01:05PM

    by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Friday October 23 2015, @01:05PM (#253579) Journal

    Women have substantial advantage in STEM faculty hiring

    Good to know it has nothing to do with my demonstration of cat, xargs, and grep yesterday evening!

    This is a goddess damned distraction. What is the status of TPP? What does it contain? What is going to be ratified? What about TTIP and TISA, especially now that CISA is being rammed up our asses? What can I do to help Bernie Sanders defeat the coronation of Grand Duchess Clinton?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @01:26PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @01:26PM (#253584)

      THANK YOU!

    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday October 23 2015, @02:02PM

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Friday October 23 2015, @02:02PM (#253595) Homepage Journal

      What can I do to help Bernie Sanders defeat the coronation of Grand Duchess Clinton?

      Talk her into changing parties. Then talk every other Dem candidate into doing the same. Sanders couldn't win the nomination any other way. By US standards, he is a extreme-left-nutjob.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 3, Informative) by fnj on Friday October 23 2015, @03:03PM

        by fnj (1654) on Friday October 23 2015, @03:03PM (#253617)

        Sanders also thinks for himself and is not beholden to special interests. That gets the attention of those voters who are not slack-jawed zombies. To hell with that obsolete left-right crap. It's Kabuki theater.

        • (Score: 2) by SanityCheck on Friday October 23 2015, @07:13PM

          by SanityCheck (5190) on Friday October 23 2015, @07:13PM (#253709)

          I would say if he fails nomination he should run Independent and torpedo the Clinton Sub. Or Trump/Bernie 2016, at least we would get single payer system.

          • (Score: 2) by tibman on Friday October 23 2015, @07:29PM

            by tibman (134) Subscriber Badge on Friday October 23 2015, @07:29PM (#253716)

            I agree : ) I hope he continues to run if he fails to get the nomination. Even if it results in Trump being the next president.

            --
            SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
          • (Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Saturday October 24 2015, @01:00AM

            by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Saturday October 24 2015, @01:00AM (#253860) Journal

            (Posted the OP before I had coffee, apologies.) Trump/Bernie would be one helluva ticket. I'm reminded of blue/red and white/black decks I used to build when I was in to Magic: The Gathering.

            I don't support Trump, but I will say this: like Sanders, he seems to be a man of conviction, something sorely lacking in US politics. I don't agree with his convictions, but damn it, at least he has them! I might even vote for Trump with Sanders as the running mate, make that a definitely so if it were vice-versa. I don't care if that means I need to hand in my Libertarian Party card.

            We don't need “hope and change.” We need conviction. I think both of these men's convictions are resonating strongly with Americans. I'm not the only libertarian I've heard who's decided to support Sanders. Perhaps the USA is starting to wake up.

            We can have a female president when women are ready to hold such level of conviction. Sorry, Fiorina and Clinton, but you don't pass muster. You'd be run out of an Amazon tribe in a matter of minutes. I'm thinking of women like Abigail Adams and Harriet Tubman. It'll happen. Give it time, provided that conviction is enough to defeat the Masters of the Universe. I like to cite Gurren Lagann which would tell me that conviction is good enough, yet I'm reminded that one may wish in one hand and piss in the other… watch to see which one fills up first.

        • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday October 23 2015, @10:23PM

          by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Friday October 23 2015, @10:23PM (#253834) Homepage

          Pfft...sure, buddy. [theintercept.com] Whatever you say.

          I'm no Republican, but it's people like you who touted Obama as the squeaky-clean Messiah before he was elected. And we all saw where that "hope and change" went. When one of the few honest outlets of left-leaning media is slamming Sanders, he starts to smell funny -- and not just as a result of his age.

    • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @02:17PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @02:17PM (#253603)

      Yes, we need more of those articles like we need more Benghazi hearings.

      • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by DeathMonkey on Friday October 23 2015, @05:39PM

        by DeathMonkey (1380) on Friday October 23 2015, @05:39PM (#253665) Journal

        Yes, we need more of those articles like we need more Benghazi hearings.
         
        Articles that don't beg the question of whether there is/isn't a problem we do need more of.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday October 23 2015, @04:20PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday October 23 2015, @04:20PM (#253636) Journal

      What can I do to help Bernie Sanders defeat the coronation of Grand Duchess Clinton?

      Well, backing some of these prosecutions of Clinton would help such as classified information on her private email server (as well as a naked bypass of the Freedom of Information Act) or her handling of the Benghazi attacks. I think this is relatively, the easier problem to solve.

      What is the status of TPP? What does it contain? What is going to be ratified? What about TTIP and TISA, especially now that CISA is being rammed up our asses?

      I'd say here that the private companies benefiting from these rules would be the best targets. There may also be an opportunity to create a Prisoners' Dilemma incentive where the parties involved all renege on the treaties in question.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @03:51AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @03:51AM (#253901)

        Well, backing some of these persecutions of Clinton would help such as classified information on her private email server

        We're sick and tired of her damn emails! Trey's real name is Harold. JEB is not even a name. And "The Donald" is more a title than a name. And after her testimony yesterday, Hillary is more than competent. Get used to "President Clinton" again, thanks to the Republican party. She will probably push for more women in STEM.

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday October 24 2015, @05:26PM

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday October 24 2015, @05:26PM (#254037) Journal

          We're sick and tired of her damn emails!

          Too bad. You know if people faced some sort of punishment for doing felonies at this level, there might be less silly scandals to be tired of.

          And after her testimony yesterday, Hillary is more than competent. Get used to "President Clinton" again, thanks to the Republican party.

          Well, Republicans are remarkably talented at squandering opportunity, I must agree.

          She will probably push for more women in STEM.

          I have to say that probably almost everyone running for president will push for more women in STEM. It's a no brainer for a photo op.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @02:16PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @02:16PM (#253602)

    So really, competence is more important than gender... who'd have thought?!

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @02:47PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @02:47PM (#253613)

      Previous studies show that female applicants are perceived as less competent than male applicants with identical resumes.
      Hiring data for tenure-tract science faculty positions show a bias in favor of female applicants.
      Females are under-represented in science faculty positions.

      These findings, along with the current study, mean that applicants that are the best qualified are the ones that are rated the highest independent of sex and the the hiring differences are not due to a bias at this stage of the application process.

  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @02:22PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @02:22PM (#253604)

    TFA has a very interesting section called, "Possible Reactions to These Findings". I've never seen this before and found their rebuttals an interesting read.

    They also limit their conclusion to, "the most prudent interpretation of the present results is that exceptionally strong candidates of both genders are unlikely to face gender discrimination ... [and] any conclusions drawn should be confined to excellent tenure-track candidates".

    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @06:08PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @06:08PM (#253683)

      That sort of thing is required for papers to be considered quality outside of STEM. Accurately predicting outcomes, reactions, and rebuttals in order to responding to them is what separates an undergraduate and a graduate in liberal arts. A fair guess is that one or more of the authors have such a background.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @02:54PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @02:54PM (#253615)

    Have an advantage in getting hired by male (but not female) hiring bosses, according to the Psychological Journal of Advanced Common Sense.

    • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday October 23 2015, @06:27PM

      by Freeman (732) on Friday October 23 2015, @06:27PM (#253695) Journal

      Depends on the leanings of both females.

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @12:25AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @12:25AM (#253856)

    More Sad Puppies! Incompetent, misogynistic, and sad, puppies.

    Place is going to the dogs.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @07:19AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @07:19AM (#253936)

      "Who let the dogs out? Hou, hou, hou! Who let the dogs out? Men are pigs, and Ethanol_fueled is a man-pig, or as they say in Fiji, Long Pig, or, "the other white meat".

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @02:21AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 24 2015, @02:21AM (#253877)

    The current male dominated academic system has been driven to shambles over the last 60 years or so. Build a competitor, do not jump onto a sinking ship. Women just need to get enough funding together to start trying to replicate the establishment results and reveal the truth. Humanity needs something like that to get away from the descent into pseudoscience. Maybe google, etc can do it, but I doubt profit motive will work out much better than the current hybrid.