If and When Sociology Becomes a Female Preserve

Abstract

This article investigates recent data on the prevalence of women in the field of sociology in order to understand whether or not the discipline has become a female preserve. Data on the top sociology departments in the USA were collected in 2007. For each university, we document the number of full time, tenured and tenuretrack faculty members and present the gendered makeup of the department. Our data present mixed findings with regard to the question of whether the field is tipping toward female. Women, overall, are underrepresented in the sociology programs sampled, but a larger percentage of women occupy tenured positions within the top liberal arts programs than at the top graduate programs. And, women occupy a slim majority of assistant professor positions but have lower numbers at higher academic ranks. We can say with reasonable certainty that, while the proportion of women doctorates and assistant professors indicate a feminization of sociology, the entire discipline has not yet tipped toward female.

Contributors to the American Sociological Review, 2010

“…6, 12). DiFuccia et al (2007) note that: "At present, the number of women employed in academic sociology positions does not indicate that the discipline has been fully integrated. Women are not equally represented at all academic ranks.…”

“…5-6). DiFuccia et al (2007) present a table (Table 2) entitled "Distribution of female tenured and tenure-track faculty in the top 50 graduate programs in sociology (2007)" showing the rank number, University, total tenured faculty, total female tenured faculty, percent female, Tenure-track hires, female tenure-track hires, and percent female. Data are not available for 4 institutions: Princeton University, CUNY Graduate School University Center, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and Michigan State University.…”

“…According to DiFuccia et al (2007): "Sociologists have been particularly sensitive to diversity and inequality within the academy, and especially so with regards to women and sociology…" (p. 4). Writing about the contributors to the ASR that have been cited 100 times or more and 500 times or more, Jacobs (2007) attempts to present a historical account through the gradual progress that women and minorities, especially Blacks and Asians, have made in the discipline and publishing articles in that journal.…”

“…For example, Ginther and Khan (2004) point out in their study that "Among all science and social science disciplines analyzed, gender differences in the probability of promotion and the duration to tenure are the largest in economics" (p. 208). Pertaining to the production of Ph.D. graduates, DiFuccia et al (2007) point out that "…with the exception of psychology, sociology produces the most women with terminal degrees" (p. 4). Examining gender, race and bachelor's and terminal degree attainment rates in these three disciplines, sociology awards the highest proportions.…”

“…These institutions are also among those that award the most number of doctorates in the social sciences. Among the criteria or variables examined in these ranking studies are prestige or reputation, number of scholarly articles published, especially in "top journals", number of citations of the scholars in a department, size of faculty, number of graduate students and number of doctorates awarded annually, number of new doctorate recipients immediately employed at top ranked universities or colleges, and endowment of an institution (Amir and Knauff, 2008;Nelson and Brammer, 2010;Burris, 2004;DiFuccia et al, 2007;"Economics: Ranked in 2009" 7 ;Eliason, 2008: pp. 51-52;Hinshaw and Siegfried, 1995;Kaba, 2009Kaba, , 2012Keith and Babchuk, 1998;Marwell, 2012;Paxton and Bollen, 2003;Oprisko, 2012;"Sociology: Ranked in 2009" 8 ; " Table 4.…”