It is no secret that women are underrepresented in the sciences at the professor level. We are currently hiring a new tenure-track faculty member for my department (neurobiology), and it got me thinking about two scenarios:

(1) Suppose two candidates were, for all intents and purposes, equally well-qualified. One is male and one is female. Would it be acceptable to pick the female one specifically because she’s female?

(2) Suppose research showed that women were better mentors, and they had more successful and satisfied students. Would you consider this an acceptable reason to choose a slightly less qualified female over a more qualified male?

Topics: feminism, sexism, equality, Affirmative Action, what ifs