WOMEN STILL LAG IN CADEMIC RANKS

EACH YEAR SINCE THE TURN OF the century C&EN has surveyed the top 50 chemistry departments to determine how many women are tenured or hold tenure-track faculty positions. And for three years, the answer has been the same: not very many, though their numbers are slowly inching up. In the 2002-03 academic year, women represent 12% of the total chemistry faculty at the 50 institutions identified by the National Science Foundation as having spent the most on chemical research in 2000, the latest year for which data are available. Women accounted for 11% in 2001-02 (C&EN, Oct. 1,2001, page 98) and 10% in 2000-01 (Sept. 25,2000, page 56). Among the ranks of assistant and associate professors, women fill about twice that percentage of the positions. These numbers aren't quite as bad as they seem, given that women aren't as likely as men to pursue a doctorate in chemistry According to NSF data, women earn somewhat ...