Cross-posted at Family Inequality.
Sociologist, segregate thyself? A little inside-sociology post.
A report from the research folks at the American Sociological Association (ASA) got me thinking about gender-segregated sociology. I added a few numbers from other sources to provide a quick look at three moments of gender segregation within the discipline.
People may (or may not) want to be sociologists, they may or may not be accepted to graduate schools, thrive there (with good mentoring or bad), freely choose specializations, complete PhDs, publish, get jobs, and so on. As in most workplaces, gender segregation represents the cumulative intentions and actions of people in different institutional settings and social locations.
#1: Phds
Since the mid-1990s, according to data from the National Science Foundation, women have outnumbered men as new sociology PhDs, and a few years ago we approached two-thirds female. In the three years to 2009, however, the number of PhDs has dropped by a third, and women have accounted for two-thirds of that drop. I have no idea what’s going on with that.
For the time being, then, we’re close to 50/50 in gender balance for producing PhDs. But academic careers can be long, so all those years in the 1970s and 1980s when men outnumbered women by so much still affect today’s discipline. Among members of the ASA today, women are 7 years younger than men, on average. Which means the men are in higher positions, on average, as well.
#2: Specialization
Choosing what area of sociology to study is a combination of personal interest and ambition, institutional setting and mentoring, and happenstance of various kinds. (This is separate from the question of how narrowly to specialize in one’s specialization, which has a big impact on the quantity of publication, since switching topics is risky and costs valuable time.) So it wouldn’t be accurate to describe this as simply a free choice. But, once someone is a member of the ASA, which is open to anyone, then the choice of identifying with a certain area of research is free (or, actually, costs a few dollars a year), through joining sections of the association.
The pattern of section belonging shows a striking level of gender segregation. On a scale of 1 to 100, I calculate the sections are segregated at a level of .28. (That is the same level of segregation I calculated in the gender distribution between major fields for PhDs, such as engineering and social sciences.) Put another way, the correlation between the percentage of women and percentage of men across the sections is a strong -.64. And by both measures the segregation has increased since 2005.
Joining a section means voting to increase the number of presentations in that area at the national conference, getting a newsletter, maybe an email list, being invited to a reception, and having the chance to serve on committees and run for office arranging all those things. At its best it’s a community of scholars interested in similar subjects. Anyway, the point is it’s not a restrictive club or job competition.
#3: Editorial boards
Finally, prestigious academic journals have one or more editors, often some associate editors, and then an editorial board. In sociology, this is mostly the people who are called upon to review articles more often. Because journal publication is a key hurdle for jobs and promotions, these sociologists serve as gatekeepers for the discipline. In return they get some prestige, the occasional reception, and they might be on the way to being an editor themselves someday. I didn’t do a systematic review here, but I looked at the two leading research journals — American Sociological Review and American Journal of Sociology, as well as two prestigious specialized journals — Sociological Methods and Research, and Gender and Society (which is run by its own association, Sociologists for Women in Society, whose membership includes both women and men).
(I included the editors, book review editor, consulting or associate editors, and editorial board members, but not managing editors. The number included ranged from 33 to 73.)
I’m not attributing motives, describing gender discrimination, or even making a judgment on all this. There are complicated reasons for each of these outcomes, and without more research I couldn’t say nature/nurture, structure/agency, system/lifeworld, etc.
But gender segregation never happens for no reason.
Update: Kim Weeden pointed me toward the complete list of section memberships by gender for 2010. So here is a a graph of the gender compositions expanded to include all 49 sections. Also, with that expanded data, I recalculated the segregation level, and it’s .25.
Comments 16
Chungyen Chang — June 12, 2011
I'm surprised there aren't more woman Marxist and Labor sociologists, especially considering there is a pretty hefty section of Women's Studies based upon Marx and Engels.
Yrro — June 12, 2011
I think this chart explains a fair amount of the male push-back (both legitimate and just trolling) you get in gender-studies and posts here about gender. Gender studies as it currently exists is completely dominated by a feminine perspective. I have known several students, men and women, all of whom have strong ideas of equality, who have said that their gender studies class just made them want to be chauvinist. Because the theory and perspective is so one-sided. I might argue that it's even more of a problem in gender studies, because it the one area where men and women by definition have different perspectives (as opposed to say, engineering, where a male and a female engineer should in theory come to the same solution).
It's very similar the reaction that feminists have had to male dominant versions of history, psychology... well, everything... previously. So hopefully they'd be, if not sympathetic (privilege, scope of the problem), at least understanding that it could be a problem.
Makes me really curious why no men are going into gender areas of sociology, since obviously some are interested in other aspects. Of course, at least my university didn't offer a gender studies or a men's studies major - just a women's studies. But that could always just be due to lack of interest as well... I wonder what a survey of sociology PHD's would find.
Meera — June 12, 2011
The demographic differences in gender, age, and race among different areas of sociology are hugely apparent at any large sociology conference. My own qualitative/interpretive area tends to attract a young-ish, predominantly female crowd, of diverse racial background. But when I've wandered into more-quantitative sessions? Mostly white male 'greybeards'.
madjoy — June 12, 2011
As a woman getting ready to apply to Sociology Ph.D. programs, this is very interesting! The three specializations I'm most interested in (Economic Sociology; Crime, Law, and Deviance; and Sociology of Education) are a little bit all over the place.
I wonder what a survey of methodologies employed by sociologists by gender would find. My gut tells me that quantitative methodologies would be more male-heavy and perhaps ethnography more female-heavy, but I wonder if the evidence would back that up. (Of course, Sociological Methods & Research being so heavily male-edited seems like evidence in favor of this hypothesis!)
Umlud — June 12, 2011
This appears to be a similar trend in environmental biology and environmental sciences: greater percentages of degrees (BS, MS, and PhD) being awarded to female students, but faculties still being heavily male. This raises interesting questions:
Is "the environment" a gender-neutral area of scientific study? If so, then why is it becoming increasingly female-skewed? If not, then which gender is it, or do different aspects of "the environment" appeal to different genders?
Or is it only true in my neck of the woods?
Danny — June 12, 2011
I assume that the "specialization" chart shows all (or as many) specializations that are possible to show, correct? If so, it is interesting that there is no one specialization that is as striking as the "Sex and Gender" specialization. 85% of men don't find interest in any of the categories. Instead, they are spread out a lot more.
I also wonder how race would factor in. Would minorities in the U.S. concentrate on Race, Gender, and Class? On Politics? Given the diversity we lump under "minority," how would different races and ethnicities compare? That would make an equally interesting comparison.
It is also interesting the types of specialization women take. Most of the places where women make up over 50% of the sections are related either to minorities or to what has been considered "women's work" in the past. Race, gender, class, and age are all minorities that appear to be areas of interest. Women also concentrate on family and teaching--both often considered the domain of women (though I assume the teaching is at the college level, and therefore slightly different). The one clear outlier to this is the interest in "medical sociology."
I can't really say why this is... If I had to throw my two cents in, I would assume (assume: key word) that women study minorities because they are, or view themselves to be, minorities in at least one way. This could create a sense of kinship, I suppose. Of course, they may also be directed to study these "more appropriate" areas of interest by professors and employers. This could be intentional or not.
I'm probably not considering all the options, but there's a few.
Does this data consider trans or gender-nonconforming people at all? That would be an interesting caveat.
Bukola — June 13, 2011
Pls can u explain to me how a lady can become a successful sociologist and what will take the lady to be there
David Banks — June 13, 2011
Dr. Linda Layne at RPI's STS department did an interesting analysis of how gender effects your advancement in tenure track professorships. Essentially, women tend to publish less, but higher quality (measured by number of citations), the same goes for grad students.
The way tenure advancement is structured, this severely disadvantages women and leaves them several years behind in actually achieving tenure. So while the endowed chairs that men overwhelmingly occupy are slowly being replaced, those replacements still favor men.