Women See More Sexism in Political Science Departments—But It Doesn't Hurt Research Output

📊 Survey of Political Scientists in PhD Departments:

Analysis of survey responses from men and women faculty in PhD-granting political science departments assesses perceptions of departmental climate and the relationship between those perceptions and research productivity.

🔍 Key Findings:

• Men and women show strikingly different perceptions of the departments' "cultural" climate—particularly the degree to which the environment is sexist.
• No meaningful gender differences appear for strictly collegial or task-oriented aspects of departmental climate.
• These gendered perception gaps are present at both junior and senior faculty ranks.
• Contrary to some prior work, overall climate perceptions do not have a general effect on faculty research productivity.
• In particular, women's reports of high departmental sexism are not associated with reduced research productivity.

🧾 How the Relationship Was Examined:

Statistical analysis links individual climate perceptions from the survey to standard measures of faculty research productivity to test whether negative perceptions predict lower output.

⚖️ Why This Matters:

The findings show persistent gender differences in how department culture is perceived, but they challenge the assumption that negative climate perceptions automatically translate into lower scholarly output. This has implications for how departments interpret climate surveys and design interventions aimed at retention and equity.