ABSTRACT
University women are much less likely than men to hold the PhD. Nationally, only 25 percent of women faculty in the universities has doctorates, compared with 57 percent of the men. In fact, female scientists were two and one-half times more likely to acquire the PhD than female humanists. The Guidelines make it clear that universities need not employ or promote the unqualified, but they must "establish in reasonable detail" and make available the "standards and procedures which govern all employment practices," including criteria for appointment, retention, and promotion. Given the patterns of women in academe and a shrinking college job market, faculty women are likely to become another vanishing species. When Western Illinois University insists that its faculty members obtain the doctorate and teach upper division courses or lose their positions, it sets up a standard that discriminates against women, who for complex historical and cultural reasons have not acquired the doctorate in significant numbers.
