Lack of family-friendly policies responsible for leaky pipeline for women in the US.
Marriage and childbirth are what stop most female US graduate students from becoming tenured researchers, according to a report by Washington DC think tank the Center for American Progress (CAP) and the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. Staying Competitive: Patching America's Leaky Pipeline in the Sciences found that married mothers with a PhD are 35% less likely to enter a tenure-track position in the sciences than married fathers with PhDs, according to a National Science Foundation survey. And they are 27% less likely than their male counterparts to get tenure after securing a tenure-track post. The report advises universities and funding agencies to create family-friendly policies, including six weeks of paid maternity leave and a week of paid parental leave.
Related links
Related links
Related links in Nature Research
Related external links
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tenure or family?. Nature 462, 375 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nj7271-375d
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nj7271-375d