Gender Gaps in Academia: Global Evidence Over the Twentieth Century

Abstract

Using the largest database of academics ever assembled, we analyze gender gaps in academia over an unprecedented time span and geographic coverage. First, we find that women were substantially less likely to be hired throughout the 20th century. Gender gaps in hiring differed across countries and disciplines, and declined over time. Second, women published fewer papers than men. Estimates of a Roy model show a U-shaped relationship between gender gaps in hiring and in publications, indicating that these gaps were inherently linked. With declining gender gaps in hiring, the relative importance of positive selection of women was offset by increased publishing opportunities for women. Third, women received fewer citations. We develop a novel machine learning approach that shows that citation gaps did not arise because women worked on less-cited topics. Fourth, women were less likely to be promoted to full professor, even accounting for gender gaps in publications and citations.

Keywords: Gender Gaps, Science, Citations, Publications, Promotions, Academia