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Association of American Colleges and Universities Press Release
For Immediate Release
Contact: Debra Humphreys, VP for Communications and Public Affairs
202-387-3760 (ext. 422)
Humphreys@aacu.org
New Data on Women in Higher Education Released by Program on the Status and Education of Women (PSEW)
AAC&U Report, A Measure of Equity: Women's Progress in Higher Education evaluates progress, recommends action steps to continue to move the equity agenda forward
Washington,
DC - January 22, 2009 - At
its annual
meeting in Seattle, Washington, the Association of American
Colleges and Universities released today a new report, A
Measure of Equity: Women's Progress in Higher Education,
written by Judy Touchton, with Caryn McTighe Musil and Kathryn
Peltier Campbell. Published through AAC&U's Program
on the Status and Education of Women, the monograph summarizes
the most current data on women and gender equity in higher
education.
Organized
according to the pipeline from high school graduation to presidential
leadership in the academy, this report documents trends in
women's status in higher education since the last overview
of data issued by the American Council on Education in 1995.
When possible, it provides data about women across race, ethnicity,
age, and income. A Measure of Equity also compares
the gains that women have made in the last decade or more
and identifies areas still resistant to change.
Through
short reflections called "Hot Points," the monograph
also draws attention to pressing issues that require serious
attention such as the educational attainment of underrepresented
men of color, the troubling socioeconomic gap, and the continued
inequities for women in specific fields. In terms of
academic leadership, the publication also raises concerns
about a significant pool of women trapped in contingent faculty
positions without opportunity for advancement, and the career
disparities that face women faculty who are parents.
"A
Measure of Equity is a comprehensive compilation of data
analyzed by gender and race throughout all of higher education
(at the level of students, faculty, and senior leaders),"
said Gloria Thomas, associate project director in the Center
for Effective Leadership, American Council on Education. "Many
of the report's 'hot points' have already been abuzz in the
media and throughout the higher education community; the focus
on them will certainly help assure continuous attention to
these salient issues. This is a solid and informative synthesis
and analysis of the status of women, and people of color,
in U.S. higher education."
"It
gives me deep pleasure to see this project come to fruition
and fill a gaping void on data about women's progress toward
full equality," said Caryn McTighe Musil, AAC&U's
senior vice president and director of the program on the status
and education of women. "A Measure of Equity also
honors AAC&U's 35-year legacy of national leadership for
women's equity in the academy."
Selected
Findings from A Measure of Equity:
- Among
all high school graduates ages 18-24 regardless of date
of graduation, enrollment rates for women who received a
degree or its equivalent have increased across all racial
or ethnic groups from 1985-2005.
- In
2005-06, women earned 45 percent of all doctoral degrees.
In an even more stunning benchmark of progress, among U.S.
citizens, women have earned a majority of doctorates since
2002.
- According
to the National Science Foundation, women's shares in certain
disciplines -such as computer sciences, where they earned
22 percent of baccalaureate degrees in 2005, and mathematics
and statistics, where they earned 45 percent in the same
year - are now on the decline. Women are also retreating
from the sciences at the graduate level. In the physical
sciences, for example women earned 43 percent of bachelor's
degrees but only 27 percent of doctorates in 2005 - a pattern
of reduced participation from undergraduate to doctoral
level that holds across almost every major subcategory of
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
fields.
- Thirty-eight
percent of CAOs are women (35 percent are white women and
3 percent are women of color). Among all senior administrators,
white women are 38 percent and women of color are 7 percent.
Twenty-three percent of presidents are women, with 19 percent
of all female presidents being women of color.
The authors
of this publication note that women have made significant
progress in higher education over the last several decades.
However, progress has not been consistent across all groups
of women; economic status at birth determines more than our
national mythology likes to admit; and national and institutional
policies that address the negative impact of family obligations
on career progress are spotty at best. Measuring equity can
illuminate both progress and what might be blocking it.
AAC&U
is the leading national association concerned with the quality,
vitality, and public standing of undergraduate liberal education.
Its members are committed to extending the advantages of a
liberal education to all students, regardless of academic
specialization or intended career. Founded in 1915, AAC&U
now comprises more than 1,150 accredited public and private
colleges and universities of every type and size.
AAC&U
functions as a catalyst and facilitator, forging links among
presidents, administrators, and faculty members who are engaged
in institutional and curricular planning. Its mission is to
reinforce the collective commitment to liberal education at
both the national and local levels and to help individual
institutions keep the quality of student learning at the core
of their work as they evolve to meet new economic and social
challenges.
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