User:Emma Adriana/Women in philosophy

Reports from the US
Current studies show that women make up 23.68% of professors in philosophy; this applies both to tenured professors, and associate and assistant professors. Another study found that the rate of women in philosophy has not increased significantly. Between 1994 and 2013, female PhDs in philosophy decreased by 0.5%.

Reasons for underrepresentation
There are many possible causes for why women are underrepresented in philosophy. As mentioned above, female philosophers have faced discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace. Other hypotheses have risen as the problem of underrepresentation becomes more apparent. A. E. Kings points to a particular "myth of genius" that could be affecting the rate at which women pursue post-graduate degrees in philosophy. This myth is about perception; Kings believes that women are less likely to be perceived as "geniuses." These perceptions can be internalized, which "can lead to underperformance, and even withdrawal from a discipline altogether." Underrepresentation can be seen as a cyclical issue. Because there are few women in the academic field, women face challenges upon entering a male-dominated area, which could in turn discourage them from continuing higher education in philosophy. Sally Haslanger (mentioned above) recalled "in my year at Berkeley and in the two years ahead of me and two years behind me, there was only one woman each year in classes of eight to ten students. Eventually, the other four women dropped out, so I was the only woman left in five consecutive classes."

Role Overload
Role overload is a concept that can apply to women in a multitude of ways. Role overload is the idea that there are multiple roles a person must take on, and in maintaining these roles, psychological duress can occur. These roles could be within a workplace, higher education, or at home. Examples of these roles outside of the academic and workplace environment include the role of mother or caregiver. Role overload could also occur if a person is required to fulfill many roles at once within the workplace. In higher education, role overload could be seen as a person performing the roles of a student and teaching assistant at the same time. It could also compound; a woman could be a mother, working a job, as well as being a student.

Medieval Philosophy

 * Christine de Pizan (1364-c.1430)

17th Century

 * Gabrielle Suchon (1632-1703), French philosopher of education

Lead changes
Despite women participating in philosophy throughout history, there exists a gender imbalance in academic philosophy. This can be attributed to implicit biases against women. Women have had to overcome workplace obstacles like sexual harassment. Racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented in the field of philosophy as well. Minorities and Philosophy (MAP), the American Philosophical Association, and the Society for Women in Philosophy are all organizations trying to fix the gender imbalance in academic philosophy.

(Keep first paragraph, remove second and third paragraphs and put those in the relevant subheading sections – not needed for the lead.)

Suggested Edits & Responses

 * Suggestion to remove discussion about gender gap in the lead. I kept most of the sentences, but I did remove the suggested part so I was only summarizing the article itself, and not getting too detailed.
 * Suggestion to add citation and fix grammar to sentence "historically..." – I ended up just removing this sentence altogether because it didn't seem to be serving the article itself. The sentence was about how women have historically been in higher education for less time than men, but I think this is "common knowledge" enough for me to remove it.
 * Suggestion to edit sentence "this myth is about perception..." by removing semicolon and separating the two ideas. I kept the semicolon because I believe it joined together two related sentences, but upon reading further, I split up the rest of the sentence.  It now reads "This myth is about perception; Kings believes that women are less likely to be perceived as "geniuses." These perceptions can be internalized, which "can lead to underperformance, and even withdrawal from a discipline altogether."
 * Suggestion to add more detail. This was an extremely broad suggestion, so I decided to see if I could find more research about obstacles women in higher education have had to overcome.  I discovered a journal that introduces a concept of "role overload," so I was able to add an entire subheading.  I might continue working on finding more sources/adding more details, but it would help if the suggestion was less broad so I could find something to hone in on!
 * Suggestion to add more sources. I found a fourth source when I bring role overload into the article.