Ultimately departmental reform is the means to overcome the exclusion of accomplished women from full membership in the Republic of Science. In our most recent study, we were interested in identifying the characteristics of those graduate departments which showed the most and least improvement in the recruitment of women and conferring of the Ph.D., based on National Research Council (NRC) statistics from 1974 to 1990. In electrical engineering, the number was too low to generate meaningful data before 1977, and computer science had not been separated as a distinct discipline until 1978. In light of this, the time periods considered for these two disciplines were 1978–1990 and 1977–1990 respectively. What emerged was a range of departmental cultures. At that end of the spectrum where numbers of American women graduate students and/or degrees conferred were lowest, was what we call the ‘Instrumental Department’. While most departments that we studied reflect the negative attitudes toward women in science, we also identified several ‘Relational Departments’ where positive cultural shifts are occurring.

THE INSTRUMENTAL DEPARTMENT

Not surprisingly, morale was lowest and isolation of women highest in instrumental departments. Many had no programs for women students and if they did, fear of stigma around joining was high. As a tenured woman preparing to leave for industry described the situation, ‘How many faculty hires in the last 10 years? Zero. How many women interviewed? Zero. How many women students are supported? There was one several years ago.