Elsevier

Economics of Education Review

The effect of gender composition of faculty on student retention

Abstract

The gender composition of faculty is an important issue on many campuses. Substantial efforts are taken by colleges to hire a diverse faculty where women are equitably represented. Several papers suggest that female faculty can act as role models for female students. This issue is particularly emphasized in science and engineering programs. However, empirical research finds mixed support for this hypothesis. We provide a new test of this issue by examining whether female students have higher first-year retention rates when a greater percentage of their classes are taught by female faculty. There is a positive relationship between retention of female students and the percentage of their science and mathematics classes taught by female faculty. Also faculty gender has a greater impact on female students when their classes have few female students. Thus this study provides support for gender-based programs for hiring.

References (29)

  • et al.

    The relationship of role model influences to the career salience and educational and career plans of college women

    Journal of Vocational Behavior

    (1989)
  • R. Anderson et al.

    Women in higher education: Development through administrative mentoring

  • A. Astin

    What Matters in College?

    (1993)
  • A. Astin

    Preventing Students from Dropping Out

    (1975)
  • S.A. Basow et al.

    Role-model influence: effects of sex and sex role in college students

    Psychology of Women Quarterly

    (1980)
  • N.E. Betz et al.

    The Career Psychology of Women

    (1987)
  • B. Canes et al.

    Following in her footsteps? Women's choices of college majors and faculty gender composition

    Industrial and Labor Relations Review

    (1995)
  • D.B. Duncan

    T-tests and intervals for comparisons suggested by the data

    Biometrics

    (1975)
  • R.G. Ehrenberg et al.

    Do teacher's race, gender, and ethnicity matter? Evidence from NELS

    Industrial and Labor Relations Review

    (1995)
  • S. Erkut et al.

    Professors as models and mentors for college students

    American Educational Research Journal

    (1984)
  • M.O. Evans

    An estimate of race and gender role-model effects in teaching high school

    Journal of Economic Education

    (1992)
  • G.L. Fox

    Some observations and data on the availability of same-sex role models as a factor in undergraduate career choice

    Sociological Focus

    (1974)
  • L.A. Gilbert

    Dimensions of same-gender student-faculty role-model relationships

    Sex Roles

    (1985)
  • E.A. Hanshek et al.

    Aggregation and the estimated effects of school resources

    Review of Economics and Statistics

    (1996)

    • Cited by (70)

    • Do boys benefit from male teachers in elementary school? Evidence from administrative panel data

      2018, Labour Economics

      Nonetheless, even though debates have appeared in the international press about the "feminization" of the teaching profession, the economics of education literature on the subject is sparse, with only Antecol et al. (2015) and Winters et al. (2013) investigating elementary schools. Other research on the teacher gender effect focuses on the 8th grade (Ehrenberg et al., 1995; Dee, 2005, 2007; Cho, 2012; Paredes, 2014), high school (Nixon and Robinson, 1999; Holmlund and Sund, 2008), and college or university level (Bettinger and Long, 2005; Canes and Rosen, 1995; Hoffmann and Oreopoulos, 2009; Neumark and Gardecki, 1998; Robst et al., 1998; Rothstein, 1995). In addition to being scarce, much of this previous literature, especially that for college and university, stresses the scarcity of female instructors, especially in some academic fields.

    • Growing the roots of STEM majors: Female math and science high school faculty and the participation of students in STEM

      2015, Economics of Education Review

      We focus on the contextual effects of the gender composition of the math and science faculty in students' high schools because prior research on faculty gender composition in higher education indicates a more diverse climate, in terms of gender, provides an atmosphere that is more welcoming to female students. It can provide greater opportunity to develop teacher and/or peer networks (Robst, Keil, & Russo, 1998), which, in turn, also increase the availability of potential role models and/or mentors for girls – resources that are very influential for academic and career success of female students (Butler & Christensen, 2003; Day & Allen, 2004; Nixon & Robinson, 1999). Role models may be especially salient for young women because their behavior appears to be more responsive to the needs and requests of significant others, and to the situational constraints that influence their own and others' behaviors (Cross & Madson, 1997; Mickelson, 2003; Moller, Stearns, Southworth & Potochnick, 2013).

    Arrow Up and Right View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text

    Copyright © 1998 Published by Elsevier Ltd.