"Leading scientists favour women in tenure-track hiring test"

"The authors say that this is interesting given their previous finding that a relatively low percentage of female PhDs in the social and biological sciences secure academic positions — in part because they are less likely than men to apply for these jobs. Other research suggests that in the physical sciences, women and men are just as likely to secure a tenure-track position within five years of earning a PhD.

There are more signs that science is inching towards gender equality. In February, a study² in the journalFrontiers in Psychology reported that US women and men with bachelor’s degrees in science, engineering and mathematics go on to receive doctoral degrees at roughly the same rate...

Virginia Valian, a linguist at Hunter College in New York who studies gender equity, says the study’s findings on hiring are convincing. But, she says, “there is a valid concern that progress will be over-interpreted.”"
http://www.nature.com/news/leading-scientists-favour-women-in-tenure-track-hiring-test-1.17322?WT.mc_id=FBK_NatureNews

This is exciting and positive. There is still a lot of shit, but the efforts of many people to advance gender equality in science is clearly seeing some successes.

Unfortunately, I am sure that some department chairs who are poorly educated in social science will see these results as a reason to put off further funding for the programs that are making these results possible.