Women in Higher Education: Social Sciences at Land Grant Universities in the U.S.

Abstract

Viewed nationally, the rapid entry rate of women into higher education in the U.S. during recent decades gives gender a special place among the categories of academic diversity to consider. Over the past twenty years, the number of female faculty increased by almost fifty percent; however, this growth may be misleading. The purpose of this paper in this Conference of Women in Higher education is to present the numbers that provide a picture of the professional situation of women at land grant universities in U.S., with a special focus on social sciences. Quisenberry and Leach (1998) present the situation of women in the biological sciences in the U.S. We review first the current trends of women in the work force. Second, we look at woman's access to education in U.S. universities, focusing on agricultural related fields. Next, we present the trends of women in faculty positions, and see how the overall figures correspond with those at land grant universities. We then elaborate on the opportunities reflecting access to university degrees in land grant institutions, and finally concentrate on the changes in the status of women faculty in Land Grant colleges, and the situation in the social sciences departments.