More women are teaching in the classrooms at MIT. Today, Massachusetts Institute Technology released a report highlighting the advances in attracting more females to its science and engineering faculties. But it wasn’t all good news for female professors in regards to their roles on campus.
This report came in response to two previous studies about a decade ago that MIT wasn’t a female friendly place to work and women faculty members often felt marginalized.
The latest report found that the number of women on the science and engineering faculties has increased from 46, or about 7 percent of the total in 1995, to 112, or about 17 percent in 2011. The surveys had about a 90 percent voluntary participation rate.
MIT has done a better job publicizing family leave policies which has helped moms balance their careers with parenthood.
There were problems, including concerns over the perception that standards for hiring and promotion of women faculty are lower than for men.
There were several recommendations:
• Oversee the hiring of women faculty, at the level of the Deans and Associate Provost. The action items needed, regarding recruitment of women, include equity of resources, and training search committees to recognize subtle forms of discrimination in reference letters and the interview process.
• Address the persistent need for childcare slots and increased financial support for childcare.
• Improve mentoring of junior faculty.
• Do a better job at publicizing reference information regarding policies relevant to women, including maternity leaves and family leave.
• Continue and improve tracking of faculty salaries and resources for equity.
• Monitor service commitments and ensure that these are fairly distributed, such that women do not carry a greater burden than men.
• Implement more formal mechanisms to deal with gender-based harassment.
• Continue to lead nationally and internationally in recommending solutions to gender bias outside of MIT
As a female, I can say this is good news for MIT’s public perception. We can only hope that other colleges and universities around the Country will review their policies so women feel more welcome.
