Dual-Career Academic Couples Study

Higher education is the foundation of a successful career in science and technology, and it is one of the places where women fail to progress through the professional ranks in a timely fashion. The Clayman Institute is engaged in a national, multi-year study examining the condition of dual-career academic couples in leading US research universities.

Despite the tremendous gains by women in academia over recent decades, gender barriers persist inside the academy. Women continue to advance to tenure in smaller numbers than men. The phenomenon of dual-career relationships, which accounts for 65 percent of the national workforce, has a particularly adverse effect on women inside the academy. Both married and domestic partners in dual-career relationships suffer decreased job mobility and the benefits in terms of opportunities, experience, salary, and working conditions that mobility can bring. This is especially true for women in the sciences, who are more often partnered with other academics. While only 7 percent of the members of the American Physical Society are women, for example, an astonishing 44 percent of them are married to other physicists. An additional 24 percent are married to some other type of scientist (Pamela Hawkins Blondin, "1990 Survey of the Membership of the American Physical Society," [1990], 19, 23-24).

Following a highly successful pilot at Stanford, we launched the first nationwide faculty survey addressing issues concerning dual-career academic hiring. Surveys have been sent to over 30,000 faculty working at top US research universities. Results are expected in 2008. The Institute's "Dual-Career Academic Couples" study will culminate in policy recommendations aimed at helping universities recruit and retain greater numbers of women in leading faculty and administrative positions. Restructuring university practices will help transform the way universities do business and grow academic cultures where women, too, can flourish.

Research Team

PI: Professor Londa Schiebinger
Research Director: Dr. Andrea Davies Henderson
Senior Research Assistant: Jema K. Turk, M.A., M.P.A.
Research Design Team: Professor Sheila E. Cohen, Stanford Medical School
Professor Susan P. Holmes, Statistics Department

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Home People News Events Fellowship Programs Research Studies Grants and Prizes Publications Art at the Institute Links Support our Work	Dual-Career Academic Couples Study Higher education is the foundation of a successful career in science and technology, and it is one of the places where women fail to progress through the professional ranks in a timely fashion. The Clayman Institute is engaged in a national, multi-year study examining the condition of dual-career academic couples in leading US research universities. Despite the tremendous gains by women in academia over recent decades, gender barriers persist inside the academy. Women continue to advance to tenure in smaller numbers than men. The phenomenon of dual-career relationships, which accounts for 65 percent of the national workforce, has a particularly adverse effect on women inside the academy. Both married and domestic partners in dual-career relationships suffer decreased job mobility and the benefits in terms of opportunities, experience, salary, and working conditions that mobility can bring. This is especially true for women in the sciences, who are more often partnered with other academics. While only 7 percent of the members of the American Physical Society are women, for example, an astonishing 44 percent of them are married to other physicists. An additional 24 percent are married to some other type of scientist (Pamela Hawkins Blondin, "1990 Survey of the Membership of the American Physical Society," [1990], 19, 23-24). Following a highly successful pilot at Stanford, we launched the first nationwide faculty survey addressing issues concerning dual-career academic hiring. Surveys have been sent to over 30,000 faculty working at top US research universities. Results are expected in 2008. The Institute's "Dual-Career Academic Couples" study will culminate in policy recommendations aimed at helping universities recruit and retain greater numbers of women in leading faculty and administrative positions. Restructuring university practices will help transform the way universities do business and grow academic cultures where women, too, can flourish. Research Team PI: Professor Londa Schiebinger Research Director: Dr. Andrea Davies Henderson Senior Research Assistant: Jema K. Turk, M.A., M.P.A. Research Design Team: Professor Sheila E. Cohen, Stanford Medical School Professor Susan P. Holmes, Statistics Department
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