What you probably already know: Women continue to be underrepresented in academia, making up a smaller share of tenure-track and tenured faculty across nearly all academic fields. Research suggests this may be partly because women leave faculty positions at higher rates. Studies also show that women often have different workplace experiences, with many reporting that they feel undervalued in their roles. The pattern is the strongest among women of color and tenured women who are deciding to leave the field altogether.
Why? Survey participants cited reasons for leaving the field like funding, publishing, administrative policies and inequitable work distribution. Women reported feeling pressured to meet higher expectations with fewer resources, while receiving less recognition and fewer rewards for their efforts. Large-scale studies often focus on early-faculty members in STEM disciplines and at prestigious institutions, painting a skewed view of gender disparities within academia.
What it means: Tenured-track positions are few and far between. The odds of landing a position are notoriously low — only about a quarter of doctoral students end up in tenure-track positions. Many doctoral students spend years on their research with no guarantee of whether they’ll obtain the new title. Past research have also pointed out rigid prestige hierarchy and a small minority of elite universities providing the majority of professors. These systemic barriers to academia can make it harder for women to advance within their field, contributing to unequal opportunities and limited career growth.
What happens now? Researchers are looking to gain a deeper understanding of how gendered perception affects men and women in academia in order to maintain retention across different tenure levels. The findings will address the gap within faculty members in order to maintain more women in tenured positions.
