Study: Women more likely than men to get tenure-track jobs at university science departments

Female professors in the sciences are more likely to get tenure
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A surprising new study suggests that female candidates are twice as likely as men to gain tenure-track positions in science-related university departments, all other things being equal.

"It is a propitious time for women launching careers in academic science," researchers from the Cornell Institute for Women in Science wrote in the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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"We interpreted our findings to mean that anti-female bias in academic hiring has ended," the study authors wrote in a CNN op-ed. "Changing cultural values, gender-awareness training, and trends such as the retirement of older faculty members have brought us to a time when women in academic science are seen as more desirable hires than equally competent men."

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Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.