Sex Differences in Promotion of Faculty Members in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Despite the increase in the women’s employment in universities, especially in medical fields in the recent decades, there is still some evidence indicating the lower number of academically higher rank females, especially in the full professor rank. Therefore, the present study aimed at investigating the gender differences in academic promotions in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS). The present study aimed to compare the academic promotion of male and female academic staff in SUMS from 1992 to 2013. The statistical population of this study consisted of all the faculty members working in the faculties and research centers of SUMS. The data were collected through access to their files on the gender, age, school, department, the university where they were educated, and the maximum length of time passed before their promotion. The findings of the study revealed that during the study years about 300 faculty members had promoted to the associate professor rank and 104 members to full professorship rank. The mean of the years passed for promotion to associate professor and professor ranks was 9.97 years (M±SD= 92) and 6.22 years (M±SD=3.32), respectively. The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference in the number of the promoted male and female staff (P<001). It was also shown that the length of time passed for promotion and age of promotion to associate professor and professor ranks in both groups of female and male were not significantly different. Finally, according to the results, the length of time for promotion to associate professor rank was significantly different among the clinical and basic sciences faculty members (p<001). The results revealed that gender and field of study were influential factors in the academic staff’s promotion. Therefore, these differences can be due to gender discrimination or the time allocated to scientific activities of the members.