A Comparison of Gender and Gender-Related Issues in the Business Disciplines

Abstract

The study described the situation of female professors within the business disciplines of accounting, economics, management, and marketing in order to collect information concerning gender-specific employment experiences. Results indicate that gender inequity within academia still exists. For example, the percentage of female faculty has increased to only 24.3% of the total. Furthermore, those surveyed were asked to respond to questions concerning their discriminatory experiences with regards to gender. The majority of women had encountered gender-related discrimination. However, the percentage of respondents (N = 707) in the senior ranks (50%) was much greater than the AACSB national averages, which show females making up only 36.5% of senior business faculty. Implications of these findings are discussed at the end of this article.T he industrial revolution changed the way the U.S. economy operates, and, with this change, more women have chosen to work and supplement family income. While many women continue to work in traditionally "female" occupations such as teaching and nursing, the most significant change has been the increased percentage of women in traditionally male-dominated professions such as law, medicine, university teaching, and managerial specialties. 1 By 2003, close to 60% of all women aged 16 and older were in the labor force. The U.S. Department of Labor has projected that this figure will reach nearly 63% by the year 2015. One of the most significant changes that took place in the 20th century was the rise of women managers. In 1900, only 4.4% of managers were women. By 1999, more than 45% of all managers were women, a tenfold increase. In fact, over the last 20 years, women have increased their representation in nearly all professional occupations. 2 One of the professional occupations that has experienced a shift in female participation is postsecondary education. In 1983, approximately one-third of those faculty members employed in colleges and universities were women. By 2002, that number had increased to 42.7%. Similarly, in the business disciplines, over the same time period, female participation has increased from approximately 36% to 42%. 3

The role of academic conferences in the [re]production of gender inequality in business disciplines: not just a STEM problem

“…Despite more women gaining PhD degrees in business disciplines in countries such as the US, they still constitute the minority of academic faculty positions, a situation that is worse at senior levels such as Associate Professor and full Professor, and in managerial/leadership positions (Lanier et al , 2009). Work on gender inequality in the business disciplines has, to date, been piecemeal, and there do not appear to be any readily available published statistics about the percentage of male and female academic staff within individual business disciplines.…”

An Examination of Gender Diversity and Editorial Boards in Finance

“…Literature examining gender issues across business disciplines is consistent with the broader evidence. Lanier, Tanner and Guidry (2009) examine participation rates in accounting, economics, management and marketing. They report women's participation rates in these disciplines had reached 42% by 2002.…”

Who is seen to be doing business research, and does it really matter? Gender representation at academic conferences

“…Much research has focused on gender equality and gendered experiences in the maledominated science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines (Burke and Mattis, 2007;Cheryan et al, 2017;Johnson, 2012;Ceci and Williams, 2011;Williams and Ceci, 2015;Kirkup et al, 2010;Morganson et al, 2010;Ong et al, 2011). However, other studies have found that gender inequality is also an issue in humanities, business and social sciences disciplines and have called for more work to be done in these areas (Pritchard and Morgan, 2017;Robinson and Monks, 1999;Lanier et al, 2009;Ginther and Kahn, 2004;Reilly et al, 2016;Klemm Verbos and Dykstra, 2014). Indeed, Reilly et al (2016) note that far less work on gender has been carried out in the business disciplines, thus suggesting by omission that gender-related issues do not existor at least are not prevalent enough to warrant attention.…”