| |
NSF PR 96-81 - December 5, 1996
This material is available primarily for archival purposes. Telephone
numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current
contact information at media
contacts.
Diversity in Science & Engineering: Progress and
Problems
Amid a few signs of recent progress towards more diversity
in education and the workplace, underrepresentation
persists. For example, women and minorities continue
to take fewer high-level mathematics and science courses
in high school; they still earn fewer bachelor's,
master's and doctoral degrees in science and engineering
(S&E); and they remain less likely to be employed
in S&E jobs than are white males.
Those are the conclusions of a new government report,
Women, Minorities and Persons With Disabilities
in Science and Engineering 1996. Published
by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the report
reveals progress as well as signs of persistent underrepresentation:
- Among 1994 Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) takers,
fewer women (13 percent) than men (31 percent)
intended to pursue natural science, mathematics,
or engineering fields. Yet, women's grades
among first-year college students planning
S&E majors are higher than men's.
- A substantial gap in mean salary -- $13,200
-- exists between men and women with S&E
doctorates. Much of the gap is due to differences
in age and S&E field.
- Women are less likely to be on a tenure track
and are more likely to teach part time or
on short-term contracts.
- 60 percent of both white and Asian high schoolers
took Algebra II in 1992, while less than half
of blacks, Hispanics and American Indians
did so.
- Blacks, Hispanics and American Indians are
taking more high school science classes than
in the past. The percentage of blacks and
Hispanics taking chemistry and physics doubled
between 1982 and 1992.
- Minorities (except Asians) remain a small proportion
of U.S. scientists and engineers. Blacks,
Hispanics and American Indians as a group
were 23 percent of the U.S. population, but
6 percent of the S&E labor force in 1993.
- Historically Black Colleges and Universities
(HBCUs) continue to play an important role
in undergraduate education, despite the growing
diversity of the nation's campuses. Thirty
percent of black students receiving S&E
bachelor's degrees in 1993 received them from
HBCUs.
- About 20 percent of the U.S. population has
some form of disability. These people made
up about 13 percent of all employed persons
in the United States in 1991 and five percent
of the 1993 S&E labor force.
- Employed S&Es with disabilities are comparable
to those without disabilities in employment
sector, primary work activity and managerial
status.
"Women, minorities and persons with disabilities have
historically been underrepresented in scientific and
engineering occupations," the introduction to the
NSF report notes. "Some progress has been made over
the last several decades, especially in degrees to
women, but there is still room for improvement."
|
|
