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Geographic mobility of scientists: Sex differences and family constraints

  • Determinants and Consequences of Migration
  • Published:
Demography

Abstract

Women scientists are much more likely than men scientists to be in two-career marriages. This study examines the argument that the higher prevalence of two-career marriages among women scientists presents a significant impediment to their geographic mobility. Three hypotheses are developed and tested. First. scientists in two-career families are less likely to migrate than scientists in one-career families. Second, the effect of two-career marriages on the probability of migration differs with gender; women are affected more negatively. Third, the effect of children on the probability of migration differs with gender; women are affected more negatively. The empirical work uses a data set of doctoral scientists extracted from the 5% Public Use Microdata Sample from the 1990 census. The first two hypotheses are not confirmed by the empirical results. but we find evidence supporting the third. Family constraints on women scientists’ careers generally appear to be weak. but become acute when they have children.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Population Studies Center and Department of Sociology, University of Michigan, 48109-1382, Ann Arbor, MI

    Kimberlee A. Shauman & Yu Xie

Authors
  1. Kimberlee A. Shauman
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  2. Yu Xie
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Correspondence to Kimberlee A. Shauman.

Additional information

This research was supported by a research grant and a Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation to Yu Xie, and by an NICHD traineeship to Kimberlee Shauman. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1995 meetings of the Population Association of America, held in San Francisco. The authors are grateful to William Frey, Robert Mare, and anonymous reviewets for advice and comments, and to Albert Anderson and Cathy Sun for programming assistance. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors.

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Shauman, K.A., Xie, Y. Geographic mobility of scientists: Sex differences and family constraints. Demography 33, 455–468 (1996). https://doi.org/10.2307/2061780

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