Higher Education

While women have made enormous strides in higher education, progress has been uneven. Women now receive a majority of undergraduate degrees but disparities remain, particularly at graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral levels. Colleges and universities still reflect inequities based on race, ability, geography and income. And more efforts must focus on advancing women and women of color into tenured and leadership positions with institutions of higher learning. There is growing concern about the rising cost of higher education and how to improve quality and access. The financial crisis of 2008-09 has shrunk many endowment funds and reduced the number of scholarships available as well as making state and community colleges more competitive and less accessible. The effects of corporatization on college campuses are also a source of concern for the quality and independence of scholarship, including for women’s studies and other inter-disciplinary programs.

Intellectual Property and Women Entrepreneurs

Submitted by asklar on Sun, 03/11/2012 - 11:54pm

The number of women awarded patents has soared over the last several decades far beyond previously reported figures, and the percentage of trademarks granted to women has more than doubled, a new study commissioned by the National Women’s Business Council found.

The study found that women had a higher representation among trademark holders than patent owners; in 2010, 18 percent of all patents granted went to women while 33 percent of all trademarks granted to individuals and sole proprietorships went to women.

[...]

URL:

http://nwbc.gov/research/intelletual-property-women-entrepreneurs

Women and Education: Making Inequity Visible

Teaser:

Kathy Krendl, President of Otterbein University, argues that today's woman is not only faced with many barriers -- fewer educational opportunities, lower wage prospects, higher unemployment numbers -- but is also faced with a tangible lack of resources.

Editorial:

From the Huffington Post:

Better opportunities for women start with education. In Ohio, less than one in four women have a bachelor's degree. Ohio ranks 39th out of 50 states for the percentage of women with four or more years of college, according to the American Community Survey three-year estimates. Statistics forAfrican-American women are even worse. Less than 15 percent of African American women 25 and older have earned a bachelor's degree or higher in Ohio.

There is a direct correlation between educational attainment and poverty. Despite women losing 83.8 percent of the public positions eliminated between July 2009 and January 2011, The National Women's Law Center found the hardest hit demographic remains women without a high school diploma. Roughly 15 percent of all women without a high school diploma are unemployed, according to the Department of Labor. The unemployment rate of women who hold a bachelor's degree is 4.7 percent. We must do a better job of informing women about the benefits of an education and providing them access to achieve their academic goals.

But even when women achieve their academic goals, the workplace doesn't reward them with adequate pay. In Ohio, women are worth only 74 cents to a man's dollar, according to a report issued by the Central Ohio Leadership Census. That places Ohio 35th nationally. And of the 11 million Americans who earned $100,000 or more between 2006-2008, only 302,000 individuals achieved that level of income in Ohio. Less than 1.8 percent of women who worked full time achieved that level of pay compared to 7.6 percent of men. It is shameful and disturbing that our society continues to discriminate against and devalue the contributions made by women.

Such unexamined prejudice also contributes to the fact that women and girls are now the majority of individuals living in poverty in every state, including the District of Columbia. More than ever before, women and their families are showing up at local food pantries and struggling to make ends meet. We must confront the reality of 850,000 women and girls across this state who experience regular food insecurity and are unsure when -- and whether -- there will be a next meal.

[...]

Source:

Huffington Post

URL:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-krendl/women-and-education_b_1321916.html

Date:

March 6, 2012

Affiliate:

Women and Graduate Management Education

Submitted by asklar on Mon, 03/05/2012 - 11:36am

Data from the Graduate Management Admissions Council indicates that more women are working towards MBAs than ever before.

According to the GMAC, women accounted for 41 percent of the close to 259,000 people who took the Graduate Management Admission Test in 2011, which is a requirement for most MBA programs. The number of exams taken by women was 106,800, marking the sixth consecutive year of growth for women test-takers. This was also the third year in a row that over 100,000 women took the exam.

In the United States, women took nearly 46,000 exams -- the largest number out of any country in the world. The greatest percentage of women who took the GMAT, however, was in China, where 64 percent, or about 33,000, of those who sat for the test were women.

Nevertheless, the GMAC research also found that female MBAs who graduated from 2000 to 2011 and are working full-time earned just 81 percent of what their male counterparts did.

URL:

http://img.gmac.com/mediaroomresources/pdfs/women_and_graduate_management_education-gmac-28Feb2012.pdf

More women seeking MBAs, but pay gap persists

Teaser:

The number of women looking to attend business school hit a record high last year, but that doesn’t mean they’ll find an equitable workplace when they get out.

Editorial:

From MSNBC:

Women last year accounted for 41 percent of the 258,192 people taking the Graduate Management Admission Test, or GMAT, which is a requirement for most MBA programs. That represents the sixth consecutive year of growth in women taking the test, the Graduate Management Admissions Council said this week. The number of men taking the exam fell for a third year in a row to 151,392.

In the United States, 39 percent of test takers were women, but in east Asia, women led the way. In China 64 percent of test takers were women. Overall about 117,000 test takers were Americans, compared with about 58,000 who were from east and southwast Asia.

In the United States “we’re not seeing the women in business schools that would be expected,” given that women now make up half the U.S. workforce, said Michelle Sparkman Renz, director of research for the council. It’s unclear why more women aren’t flocking to U.S. business schools, but clearly the corporate world has yet to embrace women in management.

[...]

Source:

MSNBC

URL:

http://lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/01/10542160-more-women-seeking-mbas-but-pay-gap-persists

Date:

March 5, 2012

Affiliate:

Blame biological clock for dearth of women in math: study

Teaser:

Women are shunning academic careers in math-intensive fields because the lifestyle is incompatible with motherhood, researchers at Cornell University found in a study to be published next month in American Scientist Magazine.

Editorial:

From Reuters:

Universities have long been criticized for hiring and evaluation policies that discriminate against women, but the findings of this new study point to the female biological clock as a main reason why so few women end up as professors in fields such as math, engineering, physics and computer science.

A woman who wants a family looks at the rigorous path to a tenured position and considers how old she will be before she can start a family and how little time she will have to raise her children. Many of those women opt for a more flexible career.

"Universities have been largely inflexible about anything other than the standard time table, which is you kill yourself for years and only then would you consider getting pregnant," said Wendy Williams, a human development professor at Cornell who co-authored the study with her husband, Stephen Ceci.

Williams and Ceci analyzed data about the academic careers of men and women with and without children. Before women became mothers, they had careers equivalent to or more successful than their male peers. But once children entered the equation, the dynamic changed.

Women in other academic fields such as the humanities and social sciences face similar hurdles and often leave academia as well. But because there are so many women in those Ph.D. programs, enough ultimately stay to amount to a critical mass of female professors.

In math-heavy fields, however, women make up a tiny minority of the graduate students. So when the rare few who make it through a Ph.D. program leave because universities are insensitive to their needs as mothers, the net result is virtually no women represented on faculty rosters, the study said.

[...]

Source:

Reuters

URL:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/17/us-women-math-idUSTRE81G17V20120217

Date:

February 21, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Black Women and Organizations

Teaser:

The real untold story of Black History Month is the story of the organizations that have made a real difference in the advancement of African American people.

Editorial:

From Black Voice News:

The NAACP, founded in 1909, and the National Urban League, founded in xxx are the most visible organizations, but in 1935 both the National Council of Negro Women (led by Dr. Height from 1957 to her death in 2010) and the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs were founded. Even earlier, in 1896, the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs was established. Mary Church Terrell was the organization’s first president and this group, still operating, is the oldest organization that works for the benefit of black women and families.

Until 1960, most African American women worked as maids, domestics, or private household workers. The National Domestic Workers Union was founded in 1968 by Dorothy Lee Bolden, who started working at age 12 for about $1.50 a week. The organization was dedicated to professionalize domestic work, providing training and advocating for fair working conditions. This was yet another example of African American women coming together to improve their lives and those of their families.

There is a rich history of African American sororities and fraternities. Among the sororities, Alpha Kappa Alpha was founded at Howard University in 1908. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated was also founded at Howard in 1913 by women who broke off from AKA to emphasize their commitment to scholarship, service, and sisterhood. Delta women marched in the Women’s Suffrage March in 1913, despite discouragement from white women who did not want to mix race matters with suffrage issues. (Full disclosure – I’m a Delta). Two other black women’s sororities, Zeta Phi Beta and Sigma Gamma Rho, are organizations that also focus on service. All of the black women’s sororities are committed to uplifting the community and to providing scholarship assistance to students.

Source:

Black Voice News

URL:

http://www.blackvoicenews.com/commentary/231-julianne-malveaux/47464-black-women-and-organizations.html

Date:

February 17, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Generation STEM: What Girls Say about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math

Submitted by asklar on Wed, 02/15/2012 - 11:37am

Generation STEM is national research report investigating girls' perceptions, attitudes, and interests in the subjects and general field of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) from the voices of girls themselves. The report consists of a literature review, as well as qualitative (focus group) and quantitative (survey) research with 1,000 girls across the country. The study finds that girls are interested in STEM and aspire to STEM careers, but need further exposure and education about what STEM careers can offer, and how STEM can help girls make a difference in the world.

URL:

http://www.girlscouts.org/research/publications/stem/generation_stem_what_girls_say.asp

Member Organization:

Girl Scouts of the USA

Partner Violence and Girls’ Educational and Vocational Development

Submitted by asklar on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 4:26pm

Partner Violence and Girls’ Educational and Vocational Development:

URL:

http://csws.uoregon.edu/?p=12330

Member Organization:

Center for the Study of Women in Society

Exclusive: Hillary Clinton Launches Public Service Initiative

Teaser:

Working with the nation’s top women’s liberal arts colleges, Secretary of State Clinton hopes to harness the potential of women around the world to strengthen leadership in both government and civil society.

Editorial:

From the Women's Media Center:

For the world to cope with its full range of problems, women must be agents of change. Unfortunately, historically and globally, women’s voices have been largely missing from positions of power and influence.

To address this issue, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton launched a bold new initiative late last year to increase the number of women in public service at the local, national, and international level. Developed by a founding partnership of the five leading women’s colleges—Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and Wellesley—and the U.S. Department of State, the Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) will “provide vital momentum to the next generation of women leaders.” The project’s ambitious goal is global political and civil leadership of at least 50 percent women by 2050. On the way, the project plans to build “the infrastructure and conven[e] the conversations necessary to achieve this vision.”

WPSP will offer an annual summer institute in partnership with the women’s colleges, the first to be held this year at Clinton’s alma mater Wellesley. Emerging leaders from all over the globe will gain critical skills in public speaking, coalition building, networking, and mentorship, with State Department sponsorship for 40 participants from Middle Eastern and North African countries in political transition.

[...]

Source:

Women's Media Center

URL:

http://womensmediacenter.com/blog/2012/02/exclusive-hillary-clinton-launches-public-service-initiative/

Date:

February 6, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Women in Science: Degrees and Faculty in Natural & Applied Sciences

Submitted by asklar on Mon, 02/06/2012 - 11:11am

n all scientific fields of study except biological sciences men continue to outnumber women. The fields of physical sciences and computer sciences and engineering show the highest gender disparity. Why does this underrepresentation matter?

Fewer female graduates in scientific higher education translate into fewer women working in scientific research and occupations. For example, at Rutgers, women are only 19.5 percent of tenured and tenure-track science faculty.

URL:

http://iwl.rutgers.edu/documents/njwomencount/WomeninScienceFactSheet.pdf

Member Organization:

Institute for Women's Leadership

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NCRW is a network of leading university and community based research, policy, and advocacy centers with a growing global reach dedicated to advancing rights and opportunities for women and girls. We also have a Corporate Circle comprised of senior diversity professionals from leading U.S. and global member companies and a Presidents Circle of college and university leaders who share our commitment. NCRW harnesses the collective power of its network to provide knowledge, analysis, and thought leadership on issues ranging from reducing women’s poverty to building a critical mass of women’s leadership across sectors.

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