Problems in the Pipeline: Gender, Marriage, and Fertility in the Ivory Tower

Problems in the Pipeline:Gender, Marriage, and Fertility in the Ivory Tower Nicholas H. Wolfinger (bio), Mary Ann Mason (bio), and Marc Goulden (bio) Introduction Women have traditionally fared worse than men in the workplace. In few places has this been more apparent than higher education (Jacobs, 1996). In 2003, women received 47% of PhDs awarded (National Center for Education Statistics NCES, 2005a) but comprised only 35% of tenured or tenure-track faculty (NCES, 2005b). The gender gap widens incrementally higher up on the academic career ladder: among full-time faculty members, 48% of women are tenured compared to 68% of men (Bellas, 2001). Perhaps more striking, just 26% of full professors are women (American Association of University Professors, 2001). In light of these imbalances, concerns regarding Title IX, which prohibits sex-based exclusion from educational programs receiving federal funds, have prompted congressional calls for inquiry (Wyden, 2003). End Page 388 This article explores the effects of gender and family formation—namely, marriage and children—on academic employment subsequent to receiving a PhD. Our results show that family and children account for the lower rate at which women obtain tenure-track jobs. Single women without young children fare better than their male counterparts on the market for assistant professorships. However, family formation cannot account for women's difficulties at later career stages—namely, tenure and promotion to full professor. These results provide new insight into why so few women enter the tenure track and ultimately become full professors. Although women scientists and engineers at major research universities have been the subject of numerous studies (e.g., Ginther, 2001; Long, 2001; The National Academies, 2006; Xie Zuckerman, Bruer, Long, 2001), no studies have focused specifically on professional transitions between PhD receipt and subsequent progress within the professoriate. We document attrition in women's academic careers at three distinct stages in the professional pipeline: (1) tenure-track employment; (2) promotion from assistant professor to tenured associate professor; (3) promotion from associate to full professor. Gender, Marriage, and Family in the Academy Most explanations for the paucity of women in the professoriate have emphasized discrimination (American Council on Education, 2005; Carr, Szalacha, Barnett, Caswell, Ginther, 2001; Ginther Hopkins, 1999; The National Academies, 2006; Valian, 1998; West, 1994). In contrast, we hypothesize that the absence of female professors can be attributed to the inflexible nature of the American workplace, End Page 389 configured around a male career model established in the nineteenth century, that forces women to choose between work and family (Crittenden, 2002; Hochschild, 1997; Hochschild Mason, 2002; Williams, 2000). Thus, women with spouses and children are forced to work less or entirely forsake demanding professions like academia. Gary Becker (1991) postulates a direct conflict between the resources needed to perform both professional and home duties. Women have less time to devote to their careers when their domestic responsibilities include spouses and children. It has often been shown that women do much more household labor than men (e.g., Hochschild Press Shelton & John, 1996). It is also well established that work-family conflict has become commonplace in contemporary America (see Glass & Estes, 1997, for a review). Recent research confirms that this conflict...