Gender Issues in Education Examining the Gender Gap in Natural Science and Social Science

Introduction:

The United States has seen major progress for girls and women in education over the past thirty years. Success is evident in completion rates in postsecondary education, participation in sports, and representation in some professional fields. A recent U.S. Department of Education report and a number of press stories have spotlighted these successes. However, serious inequities persist, and in some cases, gender disparities have grown. This is true in career education, particularly in nontraditional areas of study for female. As females become a larger share of the workforce, they must be prepared for the high-skilled, high wage jobs of the future for their own economic survival and for the well-being of the nation. Nevertheless, does gender issue really exist in education? To test this hypothesis that the natural science fields are male dominated and the social science fields are female dominated.

Methods and Data:

In proving this, I decide to look at faculty departments of a known university and college, within the same state, the University of Massachusetts Amherst (Umass Amherst) and Boston College, which is roughly half the size of Umass Amherst in terms of students and faculty members. Two natural science departments and two social science departments of both Umass Amherst and Boston College were examined to determine what percentage of each faculty departments was male and female. In ascertaining, the coding of gender, faculty members photo and the reading of their profile was used. Faculty member’s gender that could not be determined was not used in the calculation to find the gender split of the departments.

Results and Findings:

College/University Total Faculty Gender Verification Total Females in Faculty Total Males in Faculty % Females in Faculty % Males in Faculty

University of Massachusetts - Amherst

Natural Science Departments

Chemical Engineering Department 26 25 6 19 24% 76%

Web address:-

www.che.umass.edu/che/faculty

School of Computer Science 75 75 16 59 21% 79%

Web address:-

www.cs.umass.edu/faculty/faculty-directory.html

Boston College

Natural Science Departments