Article posted Thursday, August 20, 2015 2:39pm

The glass ceiling for women in the sciences is cracking. A recent study of applications for tenure-track positions in the sciences at various universities shows that, more often than not, selection committees would rather hire women than men. These positions are highly competitive, for once a young Ph.D. completes graduate or postgraduate studies, the first step toward a successful career in science is landing a tenured position. Usually such positions involve both teaching and research. In a well-controlled study, researchers at Cornell University obtained data about how candidate selection committees evaluated the gender of equally qualified applicants for positions in biology, engineering, psychology and economics. In the four disciplines, all but one (economics) showed a preference for female over male candidates. In psychology, there was a 3:1 bias in favor of women and in biology and engineering the bias was 2:1. Also, it made no difference whether the woman candidate was married or had children. (Proc. Nat. Acad Sciences, April 13, 2015; The Economist, Ap. 18, 2015)