In a recent InsideHigherEd article (see: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/07/12/coache), entitled ” Job Satisfaction and Gender” published July 12, 2010, male professors have been found to be happier with working conditions than female professors, especially in the social sciences. Says Cathy Trower, research director of COACHE, which is based at Harvard University: “…any university that thinks it has solved problems related to gender just by recruiting a critical mass of women may find otherwise.”
Statistically Significant Gaps in Job Satisfaction, With Men Happier
Category | Disciplines |
Clarity of tenure process | Social sciences; medical schools and health professions |
Clarity of tenure criteria | Social sciences |
Clarity of tenure standards | Social sciences; education |
Clarity of tenure body of evidence | Social sciences |
Clarity of sense of achieving tenure | Humanities; social sciences; agriculture, natural resources and environmental sciences; business; education |
Consistent messages about tenure from tenured colleagues | Social sciences |
Tenure decisions based on performance | Social sciences |
Upper limit on committee assignments | Education |
Clarify of tenure expectations as a scholar | Social sciences |
Clarity of tenure expectations as a teacher | Social sciences |
Clarity of expectations as a colleague in department | Engineering, computer science and mathematics |
Reasonableness of expectations as a scholar | Social sciences; biological sciences; health and human ecology; agriculture, natural resources and environmental sciences; business; education; medical schools and health professions |
Reasonableness of expectations as a teacher | Social sciences; education |
Reasonableness of expectations as an adviser | Education; medical schools and health professions |
Way you spend your time as a faculty member | Social sciences; engineering, computer science and mathematics; health and human ecology; business; education; medical schools and health professions |
Number of hours you work as a faculty member | Humanities; social sciences; engineering, computer science and mathematics; health and human ecology; business; education; medical schools and health professions |
Quality of facilities | Social sciences |
Access to teaching assistants, research assistants | Social sciences; visual and performing arts; medical schools and health professions |
Clerical/administrative services | Social sciences; physical sciences; education; medical schools and health professions |
Number of courses you teach | Biological sciences |
Degree of influence over which courses you teach | Social sciences; education |
Discretion over course content | Social sciences; education |
Number of students you teach | Medical schools and health professions |
Upper limit on teaching obligations | Education |
Amount of time conducting research | Humanities; social sciences; physical sciences; biological sciences; engineering, computer science and mathematics; health and human ecology; agriculture, natural resources and environmental sciences; business; education; medical schools and health professions |
Expectations for finding external funding | Social sciences; health and human ecology; education; medical schools and health professions |
Influence over the focus of research | Social sciences; health and human ecology |
Research services | Education |
Institution makes having children and tenure track compatible | Social sciences; physical sciences; visual and performing arts; education; medical schools and health professions |
Institution makes raising children and tenure track compatible | Social sciences; physical sciences; biological sciences; visual and performing arts; education; medical schools and health professions |
Colleagues make having children and tenure track compatible | Social sciences; medical schools and health professions |
Colleagues make raising children and tenure track compatible | Social sciences; biological sciences; business; medical schools and health professions |
Colleagues are respectful of efforts to balance work and home | Social sciences; agriculture,natural resources and environmental sciences; education |
Ability to balance between professional and personal time | Humanities; social sciences; biological sciences; visual and performing arts; engineering, computer science and mathematics; health and human ecology; agriculture, natural resources and environmental sciences; business; education; medical schools and health professions |
Fairness of immediate supervisors’ evaluations | Social sciences |
Opportunities to collaborate with tenured faculty | Social sciences; physical sciences; health and human ecology; medical schools and health professions |
Value faculty in your department place on your work | Social sciences |
Amount of professional interaction with tenured colleagues | Social sciences; physical sciences; medical schools and health professions |
Amount of personal interaction with tenured colleagues | Physical sciences |
Amount of professional interaction with pre-tenure faculty | Agriculture, natural resources and environmental sciences |
How well you fit | Social sciences; business |
Institutional collegiality | Social sciences |
Department as a place to work | Social sciences |
Would again work at this institution | Social sciences |
Overall rating of institution | Social sciences |
Statistically Significant Gaps in Job Satisfaction, With Women Happier
Category | Disciplines |
Travel funds | Engineering, computer science and mathematics |
Paid/unpaid research leave | Engineering, computer science and mathematics |
“Stop the clock” tenure policies | Humanities; social sciences; engineering, computer science and mathematics; agriculture, natural resources and environmental sciences |
Paid/unpaid personal leave | Engineering, computer science and mathematics |
Tuition waivers | Visual and performing arts |
Kiernan Mathews, director of COACHE, says that a “critical mass isn’t going to be the silver bullet in female job satisfaction.” “The job of our institutions doesn’t stop with recruitment”, says Matthews. Trower said she hoped that research universities would use the data as a starting point for discussions, discipline by discipline, to see where there are gender differences in job satisfaction (or lower satisfaction overall than is desirable). “This study is set up to start conversations with the faculty,” she said.
For women who are starting their careers, and want mentors, that means it can be more difficult to chart a path.