While previous research documents that women in STEM doctoral programs tend to fare better when their advisor shares their gender identity, this study provides new insights into the role of student-advisor gender identity congruence, relying on a longitudinal sample of doctoral students in biology and using structural equation and latent growth curve modeling. Findings show that advisor gender played an inconsistent and typically indirect role in predicting student outcomes. Further, all students, regardless of gender, tended to report higher quality advising when their advisor was a woman, pointing to potential gender inequities in advising expectations of faculty. Implications for research, theory, and practice are discussed.
K E Y W O R D Sadvisor gender, biological sciences, doctoral students
| INTRODUCTIONDespite the great strides women have made toward parity in higher education, gender inequity persists across science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) fields and manifests in a myriad of ways. While women's representation remains markedly low in certain STEM disciplines like computer science and engineering, in the biological sciences, women earning graduate degrees now outnumber men, making up 58% and 53% of master's and PhD degree recipients, respectively (National Science Foundation, 2018). Yet, women are significantly less