Women in the Scientific Workplace

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that women have not entered into educational pursuits or the professions of science and engineering at the same rate as have men and often leave this educational field due to other responsibilities in life such as family and children. The author uses the human capital theory as the theoretical framework of this literary review. The paper concludes that women believe that there is a lack of value in investing in studying in these fields because of the historical and traditional failure of institutions to encourage women to these studies and the failure to employ women at the same rate as men. Two tables are included with the paper.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Theoretical Framework for Analysis
Literature Review
Figure: Total Number of Ph.D.s in the Labor Force, by Sex, Field, and Year of Survey
Figure: Freshmen's Planned Majors and Careers by Type of Institution Attended, 1987
Discussion
Findings
Implications for Future Research

From the Paper:

"The Human Capital theory is an economic theory, which posits that the investment of training and education results in realization of future benefits related to earnings and other benefits associated with their future employment. Within this theoretical framework the question arises as to whether males and females acquire different degrees of human capital both qualitatively and quantitatively due to the differences in family and childcare responsibilities."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Ramirez, F.O. and Wotipka, C.M. (2001) Slowly but Surely? The Global Expansion of Women's Participation in Science and Engineering Fields of Study, 1972-92 Sociology of Education, Vol. 74, No. 3 (Jul., 2001), pp. 231-251 American Sociological Association.
• Gender Differences in the Careers of Academic Scientists and Engineers: A Literature Review (2003) National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources StatisticsArlington, VA (NSF 03-322) [July 2003]
• Higher Education for Science and Engineering (1989) U.S. Congress Office of Technology and Engineering. A Background Paper. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, March 1989.
• Geraghty, L.; Niles, A., Shager, H., and Strei, J. (1989) Wisconsin Women = Prosperity: K-12 Science, Math, Computer Science, and Vocational-Technical Education. Continuing Gaps for Girls in Wisconsin.
• Hagedorn, L. S. 1995. Wage equity and female faculty job satisfaction causal model. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1995). Dissertation Abstracts International A-56/06:2130

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