The Council of Graduate Schools conducted a survey of nearly 700 M.A. and Ph.D.-granting institutions in the United States. The headline finding was that for the first time more women than men received doctoral degrees. The data reflect graduation rates in 2009 and show just a slight edge for women (50.4%) but reflect a large increase over just the last ten years.
Like many reports, the real surprises come when you break down the data. It turns out that the fastest growing field of new doctoral degrees is “Health Sciences.” Of those receiving Ph.D.s in health sciences, some 70% are women. On the other end, just 22% of engineering Ph.D.s go to women and 27% of math and computer science Ph.D.s.
One lesson we can take from the study is that if women are now receiving the majority of Ph.D.s in biological and health sciences, at least half of new faculty hires in those fields should be women. If women’s representation in the medical sciences faculty does not accurately reflect the supply of graduates, then we need to look at our recruiting and hiring practices for bias.