Women in doctoral education: Clues and puzzles regarding institutional discrimination

This paper begins by asking what evidence would be needed in order to determine whether or not women graduate students are treated unfairly. Historical patterns of doctoral awards by sex are discussed, including share of bachelor's recipients who get doctorates, time between B.A. and Ph.D., and field distribution of doctorates. Then more refined data for a few schools and several fields are presented with the conclusion that more data on application and admission rates by sex and application rates for and awards of fellowships would be extremelv useful if available for a more representative sample of schools. Dropout rates by sex are discussed. Evidence on geographic mobility is analyzed; the results seem to demonstrate that women are less mobile than men. Statistics are presented to show that although female doctoral holders demonstrated higher ability while in high school, women tended to graduate from lower quality institutions than men in fields where women were comparatively highly represented, but from equal or higher quality schools when doctorates were received in what have been considered male fields.The author would like to acknowledge useful comments by Michelle Patterson, Lindsey Harmon, and Paul Wachtel. Views expressed are those of the author and not those of any individual or institution with which he is affiliated.