Question: Purdue, where one of us teaches, is a Big Ten university that emphasizes engineering, scientific, and technical fields. In the 2005-2006 academic year, Purdue had 1697 professors, of whom 404 were women. That's just under 24%, or roughly one out of every four professors. These numbers don't tell us much about the place of women on the faculty. As usual, we must look at relationships among several variables, not just at gender alone. For example, female faculty are more common in the humanities than in agriculture.
Let's look at the relationship between gender and a variable particularly important to faculty members, academic rank. Professors typically start as assistant professors, are promoted to associate professor (and gain tenure then), and finally reach the rank of full professor. Universities tend to be run by full professors. Here is a twoway table that breaks down Purdue's 1697 faculty members by both gender and academic rank:
Female Male Total
Assistant professors 151 254 405
Associate professors 154 397 551
Professors 99 642 741
Total 404 1293 1697
What does this table tell us about the place of women on the faculty? In this chapter we will learn how to interpret such tables. By the end of the chapter you will be able to better assess what this table is telling us.