Women in philosophy
Encyclopedia
Although women have engaged in philosophy
throughout the field's history, philosophy as a profession was long closed to women by law and custom. Even today, philosophy departments are disproportionately male.
is one of the least proportionate, and possibly the least proportionate, fields in the humanities
with respect to gender.
Although reports indicate that philosophy as a professional field is disproportionately male, no clear, unequivocal data exists on the number of women currently in philosophy, or indeed, on the number of men in philosophy, and it is debatable how to define what it means to be ‘in philosophy.’ This can variously be defined as the current number of Ph.D. holders in philosophy, the current number of women teaching philosophy in two- and four- year institutions of higher learning either/both full-time and/or part-time (no one data set
exists which measures these), or the current number of living women with publications in philosophy. The lack of clear data makes it difficult to establish gender proportions, but the consensus among those who have tried to arrive at an estimate is that women make up between 17% and 30% of academically employed philosophers.
' 2000 report, "Salary, Promotion, and Tenure Status of Minority and Women Faculty in U.S. Colleges and Universities," estimates in Table 23 that the total number of “History and Philosophy” U.S. citizens and full-time faculty who primarily taught in 1992 was 19,000, of which 79% were men (i.e. , 15,010 men in history and philosophy), 21% were women (3,990). They add, "In fact, men were at least twice as likely as women to teach history and philosophy."
In their 1997 report, "Characteristics and Attitudes of Instructional Faculty and Staff in the Humanities," NCES notes, that about "one-half of full-time instructional faculty and staff in 4-year institutions in English and literature (47 percent) and foreign languages (50 percent) were female in the fall of 1992, compared with less than one-half of instructional faculty and staff in history (24 percent) and philosophy and religion (13 percent) (table 4).” In this report they measure Philosophy and Religion in the same data set, and estimate the total number of full-time instructional Philosophy and Religion faculty and staff in 4-yr institutions to be 7,646. Of these, 87.3% are male (6675 men),
12.7 are female (971 women).
The 1997 report measures History Full-time instructional faculty and staff in 4-yr institutions to be 11,383; male:76.3 (8,686 men);
female: 23.7 (2,697 women).
The numbers of women in philosophy from the two studies are not easily comparable, but one rough method may be to subtract the number of women in history in the 1997 report from the number of women estimated to be in 'history and philosophy' in the 2000 report. Doing so suggests that as a rough estimate, 1,293 women are employed as instructors of philosophy.
The 1997 report indicates that a large portion of all humanities instructors are part-time. Part-time employees are disproportionately female but not majority female. Therefore, considerations of full-time employees only necessarily leave out data on many women working part-time to remain active in their field.
On March 28, 2011, the blog New APPS published a post examining the persistent sexual harassment faced by women in philosophy, due largely to "serial harassers" continuing to work in the field despite widespread knowledge of their actions. The post proposed that, since institutional procedures seemed to have been ineffective at removing or punishing harassers, philosophers socially shun known offenders. The story was subsequently featured at Inside Higher Ed and several blogs, including Gawker and Jezebel.
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
throughout the field's history, philosophy as a profession was long closed to women by law and custom. Even today, philosophy departments are disproportionately male.
USDE reports
U.S. Department of Education reports indicate that philosophyPhilosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
is one of the least proportionate, and possibly the least proportionate, fields in the humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
with respect to gender.
Although reports indicate that philosophy as a professional field is disproportionately male, no clear, unequivocal data exists on the number of women currently in philosophy, or indeed, on the number of men in philosophy, and it is debatable how to define what it means to be ‘in philosophy.’ This can variously be defined as the current number of Ph.D. holders in philosophy, the current number of women teaching philosophy in two- and four- year institutions of higher learning either/both full-time and/or part-time (no one data set
Data set
A data set is a collection of data, usually presented in tabular form. Each column represents a particular variable. Each row corresponds to a given member of the data set in question. Its values for each of the variables, such as height and weight of an object or values of random numbers. Each...
exists which measures these), or the current number of living women with publications in philosophy. The lack of clear data makes it difficult to establish gender proportions, but the consensus among those who have tried to arrive at an estimate is that women make up between 17% and 30% of academically employed philosophers.
NCES reports
The National Center for Education StatisticsNational Center for Education Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance information in the United States...
' 2000 report, "Salary, Promotion, and Tenure Status of Minority and Women Faculty in U.S. Colleges and Universities," estimates in Table 23 that the total number of “History and Philosophy” U.S. citizens and full-time faculty who primarily taught in 1992 was 19,000, of which 79% were men (i.e. , 15,010 men in history and philosophy), 21% were women (3,990). They add, "In fact, men were at least twice as likely as women to teach history and philosophy."
In their 1997 report, "Characteristics and Attitudes of Instructional Faculty and Staff in the Humanities," NCES notes, that about "one-half of full-time instructional faculty and staff in 4-year institutions in English and literature (47 percent) and foreign languages (50 percent) were female in the fall of 1992, compared with less than one-half of instructional faculty and staff in history (24 percent) and philosophy and religion (13 percent) (table 4).” In this report they measure Philosophy and Religion in the same data set, and estimate the total number of full-time instructional Philosophy and Religion faculty and staff in 4-yr institutions to be 7,646. Of these, 87.3% are male (6675 men),
12.7 are female (971 women).
The 1997 report measures History Full-time instructional faculty and staff in 4-yr institutions to be 11,383; male:76.3 (8,686 men);
female: 23.7 (2,697 women).
The numbers of women in philosophy from the two studies are not easily comparable, but one rough method may be to subtract the number of women in history in the 1997 report from the number of women estimated to be in 'history and philosophy' in the 2000 report. Doing so suggests that as a rough estimate, 1,293 women are employed as instructors of philosophy.
The 1997 report indicates that a large portion of all humanities instructors are part-time. Part-time employees are disproportionately female but not majority female. Therefore, considerations of full-time employees only necessarily leave out data on many women working part-time to remain active in their field.
Other reports
In 2004, the percentage of Ph.D.s in philosophy, within the U.S., going to women reached a record high percentage: 33.3%, or 121 of the 363 doctorates awarded.Bias, discrimination, and sexual harassment
The blog Feminist Philosophers hosts the Gendered Conference Campaign, which works toward increasing the representation of women at conferences and in edited volumes, citing that "all-male events and volumes help to perpetuate the stereotyping of philosophy as male. This in turn to contributes to implicit bias against women in philosophy...."On March 28, 2011, the blog New APPS published a post examining the persistent sexual harassment faced by women in philosophy, due largely to "serial harassers" continuing to work in the field despite widespread knowledge of their actions. The post proposed that, since institutional procedures seemed to have been ineffective at removing or punishing harassers, philosophers socially shun known offenders. The story was subsequently featured at Inside Higher Ed and several blogs, including Gawker and Jezebel.
Further reading
- Singing in the Fire: Stories of Women in Philosophy by Linda Martin Alcoff. Lanham, Md. : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003.
External links
- Tenured/tenure-track faculty women at 98 U.S. doctoral programs in philosophy on a website maintained by Julie Van Camp, a professor of philosophy at California State University – Long Beach
- The blog "What is it like to be a Woman in Philosophy?" collects "short observations" submitted by readers regarding women's experiences, both positive and negative, in the field of philosophy.