![]() The authors also looked at reasons for these phenomena, focusing on gender-based prejudice. The results showed that women were underrepresented among those who enter fields with brilliance-oriented FABs – fields seen as requiring “brilliance” – and overrepresented among those who exit these fields. To address this, the researchers created a dataset – of more than 86,000 individuals – that combined information from two sources: the author-tracking service ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID), where researchers can fill out information about their publications and their educational and professional histories, and information from a survey of U.S. Previous work has documented a relation between academic fields’ FABs and their gender composition, but without identifying factors that explain it. “FABs may contribute to gender segregation,” Joseph observes, “because brilliance – exceptional intellectual ability – is culturally associated with men more than women.” ![]() These beliefs reflect whether or not respondents think “brilliance” is required for success in their own field. To better understand these phenomena, the researchers studied differences in field-specific ability beliefs (FABs) as an explanation. While it has long been known that academic fields are marked by substantial levels of gender segregation, less clear are the underlying dynamics that give rise to these imbalances and how they relate to career trajectories. The other authors on the paper were Joseph, an expert on harnessing the power of computing for social good, and Daniel Larremore of the University of Colorado Boulder. “Our findings highlight the persistent role of prejudice against women in perpetuating gender imbalances in academia – especially in fields that prize brilliance – underscoring the need for continued efforts to promote inclusivity and diversity in all fields,” adds Andrei Cimpian, a professor in New York University’s Department of Psychology and one of the study’s researchers. “Using a massive database of academic CVs, we were able to uncover the career dynamics by which beliefs about brilliance give rise to gender segregation in academia,” says Aniko Hannak, an assistant professor at the University of Zürich and an author of the paper, which appears June 22 in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. That is central finding of a new analysis of 30 disciplines by an international team of researchers, including Kenneth Joseph, assistant professor of computer science in the University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. – Fewer women enter and more women leave academic fields valuing brilliance, which is partly due to prevalent gender stereotypes.
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