Finding 3-9: Across all the positions—tenure-track or tenured—an average of four men and one woman were interviewed for any particular position.
Our survey data allowed us to examine the actual behavior of departments for the 545 tenure-track and 97 tenured openings for which we have gender data for applicants, interviewees, offers, and ultimate hires.
Finding 3-10: The percentage of women who were interviewed for tenure — track or tenured positions was higher than the percentage of women who applied. For each of the six disciplines in this study the mean percentage of females interviewed for tenure-track and tenured positions exceeded the mean percentage of female applicants. For example, the female applicant pool for tenure — track positions in electrical engineering was 11 percent, and the corresponding interview pool was 19 percent. (Table 3-3)
Finding 3-11: Although the percentage of women in interview pools across the six disciplines exceeded the percentage of women in applicant pools, no women were interviewed for 28 percent (155 positions) of the tenure-track and 42 percent (42 positions) of the tenured jobs. These figures are substantially higher than those for the men. However, the percentage of male applicants was much higher than the percentage of female applicants, and part of this number was comprised of cases for which there were no female applicants. In 23 percent of the tenure-track job openings (124 positions), at least 1 woman applied, yet no women were interviewed. In 25 percent of the tenured jobs (23 positions), at least 1 woman applied, but no women were interviewed. No men were interviewed for 3 percent (18 positions) of the tenure-track positions, and in one-half of those cases, there were no preceding male applicants; for 4 percent (4 positions) of tenured jobs, and in one-half of those cases, there were no preceding male applicants.
Finding 3-12: For tenure-track positions, the percentage of actual interview pools in which only men were interviewed (no women) was smaller than would have been expected based on applications and interviews for the positions surveyed for each of the six disciplines. For tenured positions, this was the case for three of the disciplines surveyed. Put another way, the percentage of actual interview pools in these disciplines including women was larger than would have been expected. For tenure-track positions, there were significant differences in electrical engineering (35 percent actual all-male interview pools compared to 56 percent probability of all-male pools) and mathematics (13 percent actual pools compared to 33 percent probable pools).
For tenured positions, there were significant differences, again, in electrical engineering (42 percent actual all-male interview pools compared to 62 percent probability of all-male pools); mathematics (39 percent actual compared to 44 percent probable); and physics (32 percent actual compared to 35 percent probable). This was not the case for the remaining disciplines, including biology (25 percent actual compared to 18 percent probable; civil engineering (46 percent actual compared to 35 percent probable); and chemistry, which had the greatest difference (50 percent actual compared to 24 percent probable). (Table 3-4)