Policy

Women in Science in the USA

In 1999 MIT published a report entitled “A Study on the Status of Women Faculty in Science at MIT”, which revealed the disparity in numbers of male and female faculty at MIT, with women accounting for only slightly more than 10% of the total. The report caused quite a stir, and several other universities formed enquiries into the gender balance among science faculty at their own institutions. To read more about the MIT report, visit their website by clicking here.

The National Science Foundation, which is the federal agency responsible for promoting the progress of science and also the most significant funding body for academic and other scientific research, decided to create a structure to examine the under-representation of women in science at a national level. The result of this decision was the establishment of the ADVANCE programme.

ADVANCE
ADVANCE aims to stimulate widespread institutional change in universities in order to achieve a greater gender balance among all levels of staff in science and engineering. The programme supplies Institutional Transformation grants of between $3 and $4 million on average to selected universities to enable them to put in place policies and practices aimed at increasing the numbers of women faculty in science and engineering, and to aid their advancement to leadership positions. The programme aims to ensure greater diversity in the science and engineering workforce by first influencing the academic structure. The Institutional Transformation grants have so far been awarded in three stages, which took place in 2001, 2003 and 2006. To view the full list of recipients, visit the ADVANCE website.