The Women's Caucus Employment Survey

In 1972, the HSS published its first employment-survey, commissioned by the HSS's Women's Caucus. The surveys focus on positions in the history of science and include information on gender, number of applicants, degree held and other information. For the last decade or so, the employment survey report has been published in the October newsletter and has been based on surveys for jobs advertised in the previous academic year.   For example, in October issue of the HSS of 1998, the survey report included searches made during the 1997-1998 academic year, for jobs starting in the fall of 1998.   However, this consistency was not always the case.

The first employment-survey report, published in 1973, was for the calendar year 1972.   After that, the surveys covered academic years (e.g., 1990-1991).   The second survey report published was from 1976-1977, and after at that, they were published on a yearly basis, with a few exceptions.   Surveys for the academic years 1987-1988 and 1996-1997 were not published.

For the academic year 1981-1982, there appears to be two completely different surveys.   The first one, published in the June '82 newsletter, was based mainly on jobs advertised in the AHA's Employment Information Bulletin (EIB)—no dates given.   The second one, published in the April '83 newsletter, was based on jobs advertised in the HSS newsletters and supplements (June '81-April '82), SHOT newsletters and supplements (June '81-March/June '82), and the AHA's EIB (Sept. '81-April '82).   Though more positions were advertised in the second survey report, as would be expected with more sources, the jobs listed in the first survey report do not correspond at all with the jobs listed in the second survey report.   Given their common source—the AHA's EIB—this is an unexplained discrepancy.

 

Below is the compilation of the job-survey files from 1972 to the present.