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The Stereotypes, Identity and Belonging Lab at the University of Washington is now a member of the blogging community! We will be using Decoded as a forum for disseminating our research on women and computer science and discussing current issues related to the field of computer science including: women's involvement and how computer science is changing the way we live. We would love to hear your thoughts and comments on our posts.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

For the First Time Women Earn More Doctoral Degrees than Men

A recent report by the U.S. Council of Graduate Schools shows that for the first time in history, women earned more doctoral degrees in 2008-2009 than men. According to Ann Bryant of the American Association of University Women,  

"It's great news. The years of stereotyping women out of continuing their doctoral education - they're over".

 It is true that this is a huge advancement for women, however, there are many stereotypes that remain to be overcome. Only 39% of doctoral degrees in business are awarded to women. Women are also still greatly out-numbered at the doctoral level in mathematics, computer sciences and physical sciences, where they make up no more than 30% of the doctoral graduates. Engineering is even more disparate, with only 22% of doctoral degrees being awarded to women. While this is an improvement on the mere 10% of doctoral degrees in engineering women were earning 20 years ago,  

"...we still have those stereotypes. That's why you still see a disparity in wage earning, women as compared to men," says Ann Bryant.

In fact, NPR reports that a male professor with a Ph.D earns $87,200 on average, compared to $70,600 for a female professor with the same credentials. So, yes, we can say goodbye to stereotypically low expectations for women at the doctoral level of education, but must continue to work to move women into traditionally male fields in order to close the wage earning gap.

How can we get more women interested in computer science? For the women already in the field, how can we keep them invested in computer science?

Posted by: Sarah

2 comments:

  1. I totally agree! Even though women are getting more doctoral degrees than men we can't let that overshadow the fact that women are still earning less.

    But knowing that women are earning more doctoral degrees is comforting. That's a change in the right direction and I hope the salary gap is next!

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  2. A person pursuing a doctorate degree will need to meet the stringent requirements of a degree program that necessitates the strictest standards and will need to have mastered the thorough and specialized research required to attain this prestigious degree.

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