Unconscious Gender Bias Against Women Professors Persists in Student Evaluations

A new study from scholars at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, has found an unconscious gender bias among students when they evaluate their professors. Furthermore, the authors found these biases may be difficult to mitigate.

The study authors reviewed data on 40 faculty members from several disciplines at highly selective liberal arts colleges in the United States. They conducted a randomized experiment in which they varied both the instrument and timing at which students completed their evaluations. In all variations of their experiment, no change in the evaluation process could mitigate the students’ unconscious gender bias against women professors.

Regardless of when students completed their evaluations, as well as the types of questions they were asked, the findings revealed that women faculty receive lower numeric scores and more negative comments in student evaluations than their male peers. Women professors were more likely to be negatively evaluated for being harsher graders and teaching big classes. In contrast, the authors found no evidence that male faculty were similarly penalized for teaching large courses. Additionally, women professors who were tough graders received more specific critiques on their performance than their male counterparts.

The authors conclude that student evaluations cannot effectively determine if one professor is better than the other solely because of who received more positive feedback, and therefore other criteria is needed when faculty are considered for tenure and promotions.