Examining career trajectories of Norwegian PhD recipients
Slower Progression for Women Academics but Not a Leaky Pipeline
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4098574 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dag W Aksnes (0000-0002-1519-195X, Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education), Shulamit Kahn (0000-0002-6553-0219, Boston University), Rune Borgan Reiling (0000-0003-0589-2522, Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education, corresponding author), Marte E S Ulvestad (0000-0003-4012-3964, Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Pages | 1797-1820 |
| Publication date | 2025-08-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Studies in Higher Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0307-5079 • E-ISSN: 1470-174X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03075079.2024.2400545 |
| OpenAlex | W4402414642 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 64 |
We use longitudinal data for the entire population of Norwegian PhD recipients over five decades to examine why only one-third of full professors in Norway are women, despite gender balance among current PhDs. We find that 90% of the lower female representation is due to lower female proportions in earlier PhD cohorts, increasing sizes of cohorts, and decreasing overall rates of promotion, which together we call ‘compositional/historical factors’. We find that the remaining imbalance is not caused by women dropping out, but rather by 14–18% slower average promotion rates calculated using hazard analysis. However, on average, women eventually catch up with men after about 20 years, although this differs by field. A similar hazard analysis for the US shows that women doctorates are less likely than men to enter tenure-track academia although more likely to enter non-tenure-track academia. This leads to larger US gender differences in advancement to full professorships and no eventual convergence. We suggest possible reasons for the differences between Norway and the US
Higher education · Norwegian · Pedagogy · Political science · Diversity and Career in Medicine · Doctoral Education Challenges and Solutions · Engineering · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Psychology
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| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |