Monday, January 21, 2019

Women earn less cash prize money than men in the sciences

Except the answer is in the article.

“The analysis also shows that when considering all of the awards, women earn 64 cents of prize money for every dollar a man receives, and when cutting out the top and bottom prizes, women winners earn 60 cents of every prize dollar a man receives, the researchers report. Women also tend to disproportionately win awards for service compared with those for research, and they do not win as many prestigious prizes as men. An analysis of the most prestigious prizes shows women received only 11.3 percent of them over the 50 years reviewed; they received 5.1 percent of them between 1968 and 1977 and 17.4 percent of them between 2008 and 2017.”

If women disproportionately win awards for service (more time), and win the less prestigious prizes (less money) why would one expect the outcomes to be the same?  Maybe women enjoy the service aspect (like serving on committees) and maybe they don’t compete at the higher levels because they have chosen different career paths.  In the last decade this has changed—women are competing at higher levels than before.  They may be good, but what have they taken out of their lives?  Marriage and children?

How many women were getting PhDs in the sciences between 1968 and 1977?  Maybe 11.3% is more than their population would represent? How many American Indians have received a prestigious cash prize?  How many transwomen?  That question is coming too. And when a transwoman receives a prize, will he be counted as a woman or man?  And are the women scientists earning more than the women grad students, or the women administrative assistants?  Let’s look at all the gaps.

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