DO WOMEN PROFESSORS GET WORSE STUDENT EVALUATIONS THAN THEIR MALE COUNTERPARTS

Although typical studies finds no significant difference between the average student rating of all male instructors and that of all female instructors, there are subtle differences. While ratings of male professors seem unaffected by student gender, female professors are often rated more harshly by their male students. A study done at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania by Susan Basow and Nancy Silberg, in which over 1000 students were surveyed and 16 female professors were matched with males professors in the same division, revealed a consistent pattern. Students rated the professors on scholarship, organization/clarity, instructor-group interaction, instructor-student interaction, and dynamism/enthusiasm, as well as giving professors an overall rating. They also rated professors on masculine/feminine personality traits such as assertive or dominant versus warm or nurturant, using the Bem Sex Role Inventory. In all areas, male students rated female professors more negatively than male professors.