Percentage of Women Hired in Sciences By Harvard Trails National Average

Harvard employs relatively fewer women in the non-humanities fields than most comparable doctorate-granting institutions, according to a national survey released yesterday.

A table in The Chronicle of Higher Education indicates that 12.8 per cent of the full-time employees in the natural and social sciences at Harvard are women, compared to 28.6 per cent of the Yale employees, and 17.5 per cent of the Columbia employees.

An average of 14.5 per cent of the full time employees at the leading 50 doctorate institutions are women.

Phyllis Keller, equal employment officer for the Faculty, said last night, "It doesn't make any sense to me that if we are comparing the same kinds of operations there should be such a discrepancy--something is strange."

"They may not be comparable or it may be a lack of affirmative action. It surprises and me raises questions that certainly need to be investigated," she added.

Keller said the figures are University-wide, adding that the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard would not "show so badly" in comparison to the same faculty at other universities.

Jacqueline Mintz, associate provost for affirmative action at Yale, said yesterday Yale does have many women in the research ranks, "where it seems women were more acceptable."

She said it is hard for her to understand the low figure at Harvard, explaining, "I think it is a national phenomenon that women have been in research ranks, with a lot more women in biology and the social sciences than in the physical sciences."

None of the employees in engineering at Yale are women, and 2 per cent of the comparable division at Harvard are women, according to the survey.

In the life sciences, such as biology and botany, 35 per cent of the employees at Yale, and 13 per cent of those at Harvard, are women.

At least three state universities employ a lower percentage of women than Harvard: 8.3 per cent of the non-humanities employees at the University of Florida are women, 11.3 per cent of those at the University of California at Berkeley, and 12.2 per cent of those at the University of California at Los Angeles.

George F. Carrier, acting dean of the Division of Engineering and Applied Physics, said yesterday that in the past, "women have not had the aspiration" to go into engineering and as a result have not received the training to put them into a competitive position to be hired today.

Walter J. Leonard, special assistant to President Bok, said last night the discrepancy does not surprise him and added "I'm disappointed at the small numbers at Harvard--I wouldn't want to get into comparisons. I'm concerned about what Harvard is doing and Harvard is not doing well enough.