The Women Situation in Philosophy Career. An Analysis Based on Indicators

Abstract

We present an analysis based on indicators of the proportion of women in philosophy studies and their posterior academic career. Although philosophy is a discipline of humanities, which is a field traditionally considered feminine, the work shows that philosophy is a highly masculinized area. The data indicates that: (1) the male students overtake the females by 28 percent; (2) the percentage of female teachers barely exceeds 25%; (3) there is a reinforced glass-ceiling as there are only 12% female full-professors compared to 21% on average for the whole university community. An in-depth analysis of the horizontal and vertical segregation is accomplished. We discuss the FAB (field-specific ability belief) hypothesis that postulates that the women are under-represented in those areas where their professionals believe that raw, innate talent is the main requirement for success. The work is part of a larger project, which seeks to show that the statistical aggregates used in the studies of horizontal segregation are not homogeneous, which affects the effectiveness of the political measures that are taken.