Finding 5-12: Overall, it appears that women faculty took significantly longer from receipt of Ph. D. to promotion to associate professor with tenure, but this gender effect was confounded with current rank, discipline, and other factors. It is difficult to determine whether these apparent differences persist once we control for individual and departmental characteristics such as length of postdoctoral experience and stopping the tenure clock for family leave. While women did appear to remain at the rank of assistant professor longer than did men, the differences between gender depended on factors including the prestige of the institution, the time elapsed since completion of the doctoral degree, and the current rank of the individual. (Table 5-12)
Finding 5-13: The longer the time elapsed between receipt of the Ph. D. and hire as an assistant professor, the shorter the time spent in rank before gaining tenure. Academic age may contribute to the gender differential seen in the simple means of time in rank by gender, since the effect of academic age was significantly stronger for men than for women (p < 0.0001).
Our findings, which focus on the tenure and promotion decisions themselves rather than the proportions of tenured women or female full professors, differ from previous studies that indicated women fare worse than men, both in receiving tenure and in being granted a promotion. It does appear that women spend longer in assistant professor positions than men, but the complex interplay between different factors and the small number of cases for analysis limit the extent to which we can state that gender is associated (or not) with time in rank.
This study’s findings on the success of female faculty in obtaining tenure may relate to the particular focus on scientists and engineers at the most research — oriented universities. Alternatively, these results may reflect an improved climate for women scientists and engineers in RI institutions, given that our data examine a relatively recent period (2002-2003 and 2003-2004).
The findings on women’s relative success in the tenure decision process relate importantly to our findings on time in rank. The greater time in rank as assistant professor among female faculty who are currently associate professors compared to men can be partly attributed to women’s greater use of stop-the-tenure-clock policies.
The committee interprets these data as indicating that stop-the-tenure-clock policies allowed women who are currently associate professors sufficient flexibility to both assemble a strong tenure case and tend to family responsibilities. In contrast, the cohort who are currently full professors did not benefit from the recently enacted stop-the-tenure-clock policies, and thus these women would have had to meet the same timetable as men, despite their greater family caretaking responsibilities. If they had not met the same deadlines they would not have been granted tenure and promotion and would not now be found among the ranks of full professors.
The growth in time in rank for assistant professors may be attributable in part to increasing expectations about scholarly productivity, reinforcing the need for women to avail themselves of family leave if they are to successfully earn tenure. Stop-the-tenure-clock policies, which are taken advantage of by both male and female faculty, further increase the average length of time faculty spend as assistant professors and thereby extend the period of uncertainty for these faculty.
These findings suggest that there have been major changes over time in women’s opportunities to succeed in academic careers. If some of these changes can be attributed to changes in university policies such as the stop-the-tenure — clock policy for family care, this is good news. It suggests that universities can change long-established policies that might have prevented one group of scientists and engineers from advancing to permanent careers within the institution. It also opens the door to considering other established university policies that may hinder our country’s ability to profit from creativity of all trained scientists, both male and female. For example, one policy that might be opened for reexamination is the usual requirement that all assistant professor appointments be full time. Part-time appointments would allow both women and men the opportunity to better balance family and career over time.