Literature Review: Recruitment and Retention
Recruiting and retention of women in S&E is a topic that pervades all areas of interest, including mentoring, life/work issues, culture, and intervention goals. Each of these topics is covered in great detail throughout the document. As such, specifics of topics will not be reiterated. However, links are provided to relevant portions of the paper for further detail.
Research of on the current state of recruiting and retention shows that although females make up approximately 19% of college graduates receiving B.S. degrees in engineering, they account for less than 3% of the engineering faculty positions in North America (Cauble et al, 2000).
According to research, women in S&E tend to be more highly represented in institutions that are financially less well endowed, smaller, and less dependant on strict tenure clock systems (Kulis, 1998).
Research further indicates that several organizational characteristics predict the successful recruitment of women an institution. Institutions that have local competitors, are growing, and have high numbers of women administrators tend to attract women (Kulis, 1998).
Women administrators help in the recruitment of women indirectly through their mere presence, as well as directly in their roles as recruiters. Female applicants rated jobs most favorably when the recruiter had background perceived as similar to that of the applicant. (Winter, 2000).
A key variable repeatedly found to influence both the recruiting and retention of women in S&E is the availability of support networks through mentoring (e.g. Hanson, 2001; Kulis, 1998; Sax, 2001).
Hanson (2001) found that very few family variables have an impact on a woman’s decision to pursue a career in science. Yet, the gender disadvantage in recruiting and persistence has been found to be that women tend to have less access to mentoring and mentor relationships. A lack of mentoring, restricted access to informational networks and a lower number research relationships result in a higher likelihood to abandon S&E careers then men (Drew & Work, 1998). This is the case even though studies show that men and women enter engineering programs with statistically identical ability levels (Felder, Felder, Mauney, Hamrin, & Dietz, 1995).
It has further been found that the lack of role models and social networks for women is of vital importance and is cited as a key reason abandonment of S&E careers after undergraduate studies (Sax, 2001). In fact, it has been found that mentoring and encouragement from others is even more predictive of a woman’s persistence in sciences past undergraduate studies than either grades or self-esteem (Rayman & Brett, 1995).
The importance of mentors for retention and persistence remains throughout graduate school and faculty careers. Studies indicate that those graduate students who are consistently identified as successfully advancing through graduate studies in S&E are students with access to strong mentor networks (e.g. Hollenshead, et al., 1994). Furthermore, research has shown that many situations that ultimately led to women leaving academic careers before gaining tenure can be traced back to a lack of both formal and informal mentoring among colleagues (Bronstien, Rothblum, & Solomon, 1993).
Many organizations are instituting formal mentoring programs as a cost-effective way to upgrade skills, enhance recruitment and retention, and increase job satisfaction (Kerka, 1998). Several interventions have been successful in increasing retention by developing mentor relationships (See Daniels, 1995). A more detailed review of interventions for retention and recruitment is available in the Interventions section.
Thus, by increasing access to mentors and social networks for women, many women who would otherwise leave the S&E fields, may persist. A more detailed review of mentoring as it pertains to retention and recruitment is available in the mentoring in brief and mentoring sections
Another key variable affecting the successful recruitment and retention of women in S&E is life/work issues. It been found that one of the primary reasons that young faculty, both male and female, accept or reject a position in an institution is the importance the intuition places on accommodating family members' needs (Teevan et al., 1992).
Even if an institution is successful in recruiting a woman for a junior faculty position, the likelihood that she will remain in that position is severely decreased if the institution does not have family friendly policies (Rosser & Lane, 2002). A more detailed review of life/work issues they pertain to retention and recruitment is available in the life/work in brief and life/work sections.
A more detailed review of interventions for retention and recruitment is available in the Interventions section.