The Gender Gap in Science Faculty

A new report from the National Science Foundation finds that in 2008 there were 221,000 faculty at colleges and universities in the United States who had doctorates in the sciences, engineering, and health fields. Of these, only 70,300 were women. Thus, women made up 31.8 percent of all faculty who had doctorates in these fields.

The gender gap was prevalent for all races and ethnic groups but was smallest for African Americans. In 2008, black women accounted for 43.4 percent of all African-American faculty who had doctorates in the sciences, engineering, and health fields.