Gender inequality/inequity in the academy has been evidenced globally as women outnumber men seeking degrees in institutions of higher education, but remain concentrated in the lower faculty ranks and absent from administrative positions, particularly in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines The chapters in this volume document the gender inequality in higher education in the United States as well as in Australia, Austria, Portugal, South Africa, and Sweden. They explore the reasons for it and test or suggest remedies. Several are based on projects funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), which seeks to address the issue as it is evidenced in STEM disciplines through ADVANCE, a program developed to increase the participation and advancement of women in these disciplines. The authors consider women's situation in the context of a variety of types of educational settings including community colleges, primarily undergraduate institutions, and research-intensive universities.

Training for and pursuing a career in science can be treacherous for women; many more begin than ultimately complete at every stage. Characterizing this as a pipeline problem, however, leads to a focus on individual women instead of structural conditions. The goal of the book is to offer an alternative model that better articulates the ideas of agency, constraint, and variability along the path to scientific careers for women. The chapters in this volume apply the metaphor of the road to a variety of fields and moments that are characterized as exits, pathways, and potholes. The scholars featured in this volume engaged purposefully in translation of sociological scholarship on gender, work, and organizations. They focus on the themes that emerge from their scholarship that add to or build on our existing knowledge of scientific work, while identifying tools as well as challenges to diversifying science. This book contains a multitude of insights about navigating the road while training for and building a career in science. Collectively, the chapters exemplify the utility of this approach, provide useful tools, and suggest areas of exploration for those aiming to broaden the participation of women and minorities. Although this book focuses on gendered constraints, we are attentive to fact that gender intersects with other identities, such as race/ethnicity and nativity, both of which influence participation in science. Several chapters in the volume speak clearly to the experience of underrepresented minorities in science and others consider the circumstances and integration of non-U.S. born scientists, referred to in this volume as international scientists. Disaggregating gender deepens our understanding and illustrates how identity shapes the contours of the scientific road.

This volume discusses why faculty and administrators of academe should care about implementing family-friendly policies and practices, as well as how they can advocate for policy changes. In section one, the book's focus is on empirical studies that demonstrate the need for innovative programs and policies for faculty at colleges and universities. These pieces explore issues such as the value of work/life programs for employee retention, the need for a variety of family support policies including elder care, and the influence of workplace culture on the use of existing policies. Section two includes case studies of the process of formulating family-friendly policies and their adoption at a variety of universities. The subjects of these chapters include use of the Family and Medical Leave Act, the enactment of a parental leave policy, the development of a unique "life cycle professorship program," and strategies used to implement new policies. The case study chapters provide descriptions of the identification of faculty and staff needs and the process of policy development as well as advice to faculty and administrators who seek to develop similar policies at their institutions.