Data analyzed by the Research Department on ASA’s Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) show that women in the MFP are half as likely as their male counterparts in the program to be employed at research-extensive universities, half as likely to receive National Science Foundation and/or National Institutes of Health grants, about two-thirds as likely to become ASA section leaders, and have about half the amount of peer-reviewed journal publications as men in the MFP, since receiving their PhDs.
We speculate that Women in the MFP might be less encouraged to participate in normative academic activities than men in the MFP. For example, publications in grad school usually suggest that one will have a career of scholarly publishing ahead of him/her. Over three-quarters of MFP men had a least one publication prior to receiving their PhDs, compared to 38.1 percent of the MFP women. These differences will require further study. We welcome you to share your thoughts about these findings.
