It is well-recognized that women are underrepresented in science and engineering careers. Their low representation is cause for concern not only because of what it implies about differential access by gender to rewarding careers, but also because of recent concern in the United States over the quality of the scientific and engineering labor force. It is generally assumed that any deficits will be made up through recruiting more able women and minorities in the future. Factors contributing to the underrepresentation and underutilization of women in science, such as discrimination in the operation of the reward process, are of social and economic importance. One aspect of the problem of recruitment and retention of women in science and engineering is whether they receive monetary rewards comparable to those of men for their work. This study seeks to determine whether discrimination exists in the reward process since it would distort the reinforcement mechanism for the advancement of women in academic science. The study will use two data sources (the Science Citation Index and the Survey of Doctorate Recipients) to relate research output to subsequent changes in wages. Further, using several dimensions of publishing productivity that are available, the study examines how monetary rewards are affected by authorship patterns and journal quality. The analysis will be conducted for the fields of biochemistry, geology, physics, and physiology.
