Gender, Family Characteristics, and Publication Productivity among Scientists

Abstract

This paper concentrates upon the relationship between marriage, parental status, and publication productivity for women in academic science, with comparisons to men. Findings indicate that gender, family characteristics, and productivity are complex considerations that go beyond being married or not married, and the presence or absence of children. For women particularly, the relationship between marriage and productivity varies by type of marriage: first compared with subsequent marriage, and occupation of spouse (in scientific compared with non-scientific occupation). Further, type of family composition is important: women with preschool children have higher productivity than women without children or with school-age children. Women with preschool children are found to be a socially selective group in their characteristics, particularly in their allocations of time. accordingly, until we understand factors that are associated with productivity, and variation in productivity by gender, we can neither assess nor correct inequities in rewards, including rank, promotion, and salary. This is because publication productivity operates as both cause and effect of status in science. Publication productivity reflects women's depressed rank and status, and partially accounts for it. 'Partially' is a key term: comparable levels of publication do not produce the same rewards for women and men. This is particularly conspicuous in advancement in academic rank for women compared with men (see Sonnert & Holton, 1995).Numbers of studies indicate gender disparity in publication productivity. 2 In recent years, the disparity has narrowed somewhat in life sciences, but has persisted in scientific fields outside life sciences (Blackburn & Lawrence, 1996). Further, data indicate that while women and men publish at different rates, the publication of both is positively skewedSocial Studies of Science 35/1(February 2005) 131-150

Research on women in science and higher education: a bibliometric analysis

“…Hence, many of these studies have sought to explain the systematic disparities between men and women by incorporating different factors into their analysis. Factors surrounding family formation and childrearing have been one of the major causes of female underrepresentation in academia evidenced by the literature (Sax et al 2002;Stack 2004;Fox 2005;Ginther and Kahn 2006;Prozesky 2008;Hunter and Leahey 2010). Another large body of literature has focused on structural factors such as the greater presence of women in less research-oriented institutions (Allison and Long 1990;Xie and Shauman 1998), the higher teaching and service load among females (Taylor et al 2006;Snell et al 2009;DesRoches et al 2010), their lower degree of specialization (Leahey 2006) and of academic status and rank (Leta and Lewison 2003;Tower et al 2007;Puuska 2010;Pashkova et al 2013), their difficulties in accessing funding (Xie and Shauman 1998), the low percentage of women on selection committees (European Commission 2009;Zinovyeva and Bagues 2011), or the academic assessment systems that have traditionally ignored factors that especially affect women (LERU 2012).…”

Research experiences and mentoring practices in selected east asian graduate programs: Predictors of research productivity among doctoral students in molecular biology

“…Either as independent or as control variables, several studies have examined factors that influence research productivity: for example email usage, gender, marital status, presence of children, collaborative involvement, and professional networks [32,42,43,48]. Our study adds to this list by focusing on yet two other factors hitherto understudied in science studies [44].…”

“Modo Deadline”: Uma Análise Sobre O Tempo Das Mulheres Académicas

“…Isso não acontece apenas devido ao funcionamento tradicional da cultura académica e científica que continua a privilegiar um perfil típico de cientista dedicado/a e comprometido/a a cem por cento à atividade. Segundo alguns estudos (FOX, 2005), isto acontece também por via das atribuições, exigências e expetativas que recaem sobre as mulheres, nos contextos por elas experienciados, fora da academia e da ciência propriamente ditas. Esta ideia é fundamental porque a presença em redes exige um grande nível de interdependência (não necessariamente correspondente a proximidade física) e resposta imediata aos ritmos do grupo.…”