A Persisting Gender Gap in Tenure and Tenure-Track Faculty Positons

Women now are a significant majority of all students enrolled in higher education and all students who earn degrees. But women still do not hold anywhere near a majority of faculty positions in higher education, particularly at the higher levels. Two major state universities recently released new data on the gender gap in faculty positions.

The University of Maryland reports that 24 percent of tenure or tenure-track faulty are women. This is up from 22 percent five years ago. For assistant professors, women were 43 percent of all faculty in 2011 but 48 percent this year.

At the University of New Mexico, 43 percent of all tenure or tenure-track faculty members are women. In 2002, women made up just 30 percent of all tenured or tenure-track faculty.