How Women End Up on the 'Glass Cliff'

Harvard Business Review podcast with Susanne Bruckmüller, research associate at the Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and coauthor of the HBR article, "How Women End Up on the 'Glass Cliff'."

List to the MP3

Women Are Over-Mentored (But Under-Sponsored)

Harvard Business Review (HBR) podcast with Herminia Ibarra, co-author of the HBR article, "Why Men Still Get More Promotions Than Women."

Listen to MP3

Female Graduate Student Enrollments

Female Graduate Student Enrollments at Penn State

Figure 1, below, shows the proportion of female graduate students (master’s and doctoral) across the different Penn State campuses for the years 2004-2009. The majority of campuses range between .30 and .60 in their proportion of female grad students to all grad students.

Figure 2, below, shows the proportion of female master’s students at University Park campus (2004-2009). This ranges between .43 and .47 across all different colleges.

Figure 3, below, shows the distribution of female Ph.D. students at University Park by the college they are enrolled in. Arts & Architecture, Health & Human Development, Education, Liberal Arts, and Communication have consistently had more than 50% female students across the time span (2004-2009). Agricultural Sciences and IST have both had noticeable growth in the proportion of female students since 2004. Engineering was consistently below other colleges with around 20% female students across the time span.

Assessment Committee Meeting on October 19, 2010

The Assessment Committee met on October 19, 2010, witht he following agenda:
Noon - Introductions of attendees
12:10 -- review the 1997 - 2007 Status of Women Report for how the data was presented
12:20 -- discuss additional data suggestions from the Fall Kick-Off discussions
12:30 -- discuss limitations of data from a variety of sources
12:40 -- assignments for data collection and beginning analyses of changes
12:50 -- finalize plans and actions for the next meeting
12:55 -- adjourn

Some participants attended the meeting in Grange Building, but some also participated from a distance using Adobe Connect.

CFW Meeting on October 13, 2010

The Gender Gap Cracks Under Pressure: A Detailed Look at Male and Female Performance Differences During Competitions

NBER Working Paper No. 16436
Issued in October 2010
Christopher Cotton, Frank McIntyre, Joseph Price

"Using data from multiple-period math competitions, we show that males outperform females of similar ability during the first period. However, the male advantage is not found in any subsequent period of competition, or even after a two-week break from competition. Some evidence suggests that males may actually perform worse than females in later periods. The analysis considers various experimental treatments and finds that the existence of gender differences depends crucially on the design of the competition and the task at hand. Even when the male advantage does exist, it does not persist beyond the initial period of competition."

See http://papers.nber.org/papers/w16436

The Gender Wage Gap as told by HBR.org

According to a recent report in the September 2010 Harvard Business Review, women executives in the UK have not reaped the same rewards at the C-level positions. Expected bonuses for women remained relatively flat even with positive company performance. The men experienced exponential growth in the amount of bonuses as the company had positive performance.

A Swiss study found that women in a progressive community are more dissatisfied with wage gaps than those in traditional communities. The progressive community emphasizes the concept of equal pay.

Pay for women has increased as they have moved from low-skilled jobs into more analytical jobs according to a study of routine tasks and the adoption of computers.

An analysis of 2000 US Census data shows having children results in penalties and rewards for women.

A survey of 1,300 students found female graduates underestimate the level of discrimination they faced in their professional lives.

Additional information for each of the studies can be found on pages 22-27 of the September 2010 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Still Few Women in Management, Report Says

The change in the percentage of women that are managers hasn't changed very much from 2000 to 2007. The increase has been a one percent growth. Read the article.

Why the pay gap between men and women in management persists

A PostLeadership article about the findings of the Government Accountability Office related to the pay gap between men and women in management positions. Read the article.

Assessment Committee at the Commission's 2010 Fall Kick-Off Meeting

Baker & Buckelew Work on Assessment Committee Report

Rose Baker, Assessment Committee co-chair, and Clare Buckelew, an intern with the Assessment Committee, discuss an analysis project on which they are working:

Comparison in Appointment Types - Part 1 of the Research

A change has been occurring in the types of appointments for Faculty and Staff. Interested members of the Assessment Committee examined the types of appointments at the University Park Campus and at the University. More work will be done to examine the trends by college, by campus, by gender, ...

This initial research shows a growing trend of fixed term offers. The University has grown in employment by 13.6% from 2002 to 2009. During this same time, the number of standing positions for faculty and staff have grown 6%.

For the status of women in 2009, more than half of all fixed term instructors and assistant professors are women at the University Park Campus.

Click on the links to read the pages of this first report.

From CfW Assessment Committee

From CfW Assessment Committee

From CfW Assessment Committee

From CfW Assessment Committee

From CfW Assessment Committee

A Labor Market Punishing to Mothers

Why Girly Jobs Don’t Pay Well By NANCY FOLBRE

Commission for Women Meeting on May 4, 2010, with President Spanier and Provost Erickson

PSU Future Admissions for Graduate Education

Enrollment ratios of female-to-male students and college and disciplinary segregation of male and female students are important issues for the future of higher education and the status of women in the labor market and broader society. The tables below show future admissions for various Penn State Colleges across all campuses (including World Campus). Summer 2010 through Fall 2015 numbers are summed together, with the bulk of future admissions being for Fall 2010. Table 1, directly below, displays those colleges that have less than 50% female future admissions for graduate education. These are colleges that have historically been known to have lower female-to-male student ratios, such as Engineering and IST (Morris and Daniel 2008).

From CfW Assessment Committee

Table 2 shows colleges with greater than 50% female future admissions for graduate education. The College of Nursing has the highest future admission of female students at 88%. Education, Non-degree, and Health & Human Development all have future admission rates of female students at greater than 70%. Many of the colleges with higher percent female future admissions are also those colleges that have historically had higher female concentration, especially education and nursing, which Lackland and DeLisi (2001) referred to as “helping professions.”

From CfW Assessment Committee

Overall, the trends for future enrollment—in 2010 and beyond—suggest that certain colleges remain relatively stratified by gender. This is particularly salient at the level of graduate studies, because these students may move into academic positions and become instructors, professors, and mentors for future undergraduate and graduate students. Same-sex role models are shown to be important in students’ psychosocial experiences of higher education (Schroeder and Mynatt 2004) and gender composition of departments may influence the mentoring structure available to students (Dua 2008). Gender stratification by college of study remains an important issue for institutions of higher education to better understand in order to provide both male and female students with adequate educational resources and support.

References
Dua, P. 2008. “The Impact of Gender Characteristics on Mentoring in Graduate Departments of Sociology.” The American Sociologist, 39(4): 307-23.
Lackland, A. C., & R. De Lisi. 2001. “Students’ Choices of College Majors that are Gender Traditional and Nontraditional.” Journal of College Student Development, 42: 39-48.
Morris, L.K., & L.G. Daniel. 2008. “Perceptions of a Chilly Climate: Differences in Traditional and Non-traditional Majors for Women.” Research in Higher Education, 49: 256-73.
Schroeder, D.S., & C.R. Mynatt. 2004. “Graduate Students' Relationships with Their Male and Female Major Professors.” Sex Roles, 40(5-6): 393-420.

April 22, 2010, meeting of the Assessment Committee

Participants (one on Adobe Connect!) discussed data on student counts, for the VOICES conference, graduate student admissions, action items for meeting with President Spanier, and listing of members on this blog.

4th Annual Commission for Women Awards Ceremony -- April 15, 2010

Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Fields

From 2004 to 2009, the number of women seeking degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM fields) at the Penn State University Park campus has increased to nearly 8,000 enrollments, a 15% increase. Members of the CfW Assessment Committee worked with members of the Graduate Women in Science (GWIS) members to analyze the fall semester student enrollment data.

GWIS is hosting Women in STEM Week: A week to celebrate and support women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics from February 15 - 19, 2010. An ice cream social is being held on February 15 from 4:30 to 6:00 pm in 16 Deike Building (Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum). For more information, visit http://clubs.psu.edu/up/gwis/greenribbon.html.

The Voices Conference, being held on February 28, 2010, is open to everyone and offers opportunities for networking and professional development for those in STEM fields. The deadline for registration is February 15. For more information and to register, visit http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/gwis/v2010.html.

Video from Commission Meeting on January 5, 2010