This letter is regarding the allegation by Professor Cohen, et al., that the Canada Research Chairs program discriminates against women (Commentary, Bulletin, May 2003).

The root of this problem is not discrimination against women, but rather that research funds allotted to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council are relatively low compared to those provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. Since more female faculty are present in the social sciences and the humanities, it follows that they will be under represented in the CRC program which allots chairs to individual universities according to the value of research funds received from the three granting agencies. Currently, our culture generally supports higher funding for medical and scientific research relative to that in humanities and social sciences.

Regrettably, it is true that women are seriously under represented in many science and engineering faculties. In Canadian universities with PhD programs, only eight per cent of faculty positions in chemical engineering are held by women. In chemistry and biochemistry, the numbers are 12 per cent and 18 per cent. Accordingly, the proportion of female CRCs will be low in these disciplines, since the rates of success of female and male CRC applicants are identical.

More than 35 per cent of Canadian PhD graduates in chemistry since 1992 are women. Nevertheless, the proportion of female faculty has not increased substantially over the past decade. Women appear to favor careers such as the civil service, since it is perceived that such options are less risky than those in academia, where promotion to the highest levels is contingent upon performing research of internationally recognized stature.

The recent experience of our department in the hiring of a new faculty member in the field of inorganic materials is illustrative. Of the more than 40 applications, not one was from a female candidate.

G.W. Buchanan
Chairman, Chemistry, Carleton University