A Sociological Explanation of the Professional Status of Academic Women

The available literature and accessible references show that the study on the role of “Women in Science” has been conducted in few countries. Sociological studies focussing on the subject are scant and no such research has been found to investigate the professional status of the female faculty members of Esfahan University. This research attempts to reduce such a scientific rarity. To this end, three critical questions are answered in this study: (1) What are the experimental-educational characteristics of the women?; (2) What is their organizational and scientific position regarding their attendance in committees, decision councils, administrative and managerial affairs?; (3) According to the women's opinion, what factors affect their professional status? Professional status refers to the scientific and organizational position of female faculty members. The sample population includes all the female faculty members of the University. Data is collected through a questionnaire and semi-structured interview. Some important findings of the research are: Only ten percent of the University faculty members are women. Based on the U-Mean Whitney Test, there is not any significant difference between the scientific position of the female and male faculty members of the University while the difference is very obvious regarding their organizational and managerial positions. The female faculty members of the Esfahan University believe that gender discrimination and role conflict are the most important factors affecting their organizational position, while their academic male colleagues consider role conflict as the sole important factor affecting organizational position.