Women in Education

Today, I have read so many articles about affirmative action. Some were really interesting others seemed to be pretty cut and dry. I found the following article very interesting. According to Discrimination Against Women and Girls in Education: Why Affirmative Action Remains Essential (http://www.civilrights.org/issues/affirmative/remote-page.jsp?itemID=28326556), "Standardized Testing Unfairly Hurts Talented Female Students Standardized tests, including the SAT and PSAT, play a decisive role in determining which college a student attends and whether she receives scholarship money. Unfortunately, these tests are flawed assessment tools: although these tests are designed to be an indicator of future performance, young women earn higher grades in high school and in college than boys,(8) while consistently scoring below boys on standardized tests.(9) In addition to evidence of gender bias, studies have documented racial, ethnic, and cultural biases in these tests.(10) Nevertheless, these tests are still used in awarding critical scholarship money and have an enormous impact on girls' educational opportunities: boys get the majority of scholarships based on SAT and PSAT test scores, receiving, for example, an estimated $15 million of the $25 million awarded yearly by the National Merit Scholarship Corp.(11) Women Face Barriers in Math, Science and Other Nontraditional Areas, and in Attainment of Advanced Degrees While women now comprise just over half of undergraduates nationwide, they remain excluded from or underrepresented in key nontraditional areas of study, such as engineering, mathematics, and physical sciences. The relative absence of girls and young women in math and science programs has important implications for the career paths they pursue as adults. Girls without math and science backgrounds are less likely to pursue professional careers and therefore less likely to be prepared to enter positions that will provide them with the earning potential necessary to support their families. Gender differences in math and science grow as students approach secondary school. In third grade, girls think they are good in math in numbers equal to boys, but by high school, girls have begun to doubt strongly their confidence in math.(12) Once in high school, girls are less likely than boys to take the most advanced math or physics courses,(13) and even young women who are highly competent in math and science are less likely to pursue scientific or technological careers.(14) Women receive only about 16% of undergraduate and 11% of doctorate degrees in engineering; less than 22% of doctorate degrees in math and physical sciences; 28% of undergraduate and 15% of doctorate degrees in computer and information sciences.(15) By contrast, women continue to earn the largest proportion of degrees at all levels (associate through doctoral degrees) in fields they have traditionally dominated, such as health professions (which includes nursing, physical therapy and health administration) (83%) and education (77%).(16) The rate of movement of women into nontraditional fields of study has been slow. The proportion of degrees earned by women in the physical sciences increased between 1984-85 and 1992-93 by only 4 percentage points, and women's share of engineering degrees increased by only 2 percentage points during the same period.(17) Although the number of women receiving bachelor's and master's degrees has been steadily rising, women still receive only 38.5% of doctoral and 40% of all first-professional degrees.(18) Women Hold Lower Ranking College Faculty Positions With Lower Pay Women are still nowhere near achieving parity in faculty positions in higher education. They are concentrated in the lower ranks of faculty, and their salaries lag behind those of their male counterparts. Indeed, most of the recent gains for minorities and women are among visiting staff and temporary lecturers, not full-time staff. Women were approximately one-third of all full- and part-time faculty employed by U.S. colleges and universities in 1992, and only 18% of all full professors. By contrast, half of all lecturers were women. And 41% of all female faculty were employed part time, while only 29% of male faculty were part time.(19) Women of color have made even smaller gains, comprising only 1.5% of full-time professors nationwide.(20) Women faculty members continue to earn lower average salaries than their male counterparts at all levels. A survey released by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) in April 1996 found that the salary gap between male and female university professors has remained constant, with men receiving about 30% more than women, even after adjusting for differences in age and hours worked.(21) Women in academia remain concentrated in certain departments. For example, nationwide, women make up nearly all of the faculty in nursing (98%), but only 6% in engineering.(22) Stanford University reported in 1993 that in 11 departments it had no women faculty, and in 30 departments (43% of all departments) it had no tenured women faculty. Nationwide, women faculty members are less likely than their male counterparts to have tenure or to hold tenure-track appointments. The AAUP survey found that less than 50% of all female faculty had tenure status, compared with 72% of their male peers.(23) Athletic Opportunities for Young Women Are Limited While women are over half of undergraduates in our colleges and universities, their athletic opportunities are still severely limited. The availability of athletic scholarships dramatically increases young women's ability to pursue a college education, and helps them develop self-confidence and critical leadership skills. Nationwide, women are only 37% of all college varsity athletes."

I found all this very interesting because I am a female that struggles with the subject of mathematics. Is it due to discrimination issues? I find it interesting to think that maybe the tests very unfair so that may be why I have difficulty in that area.