tions were section heads or "group leaders" (supervising a team of chemists and assistants on a particular research project or type of analysis). One, however, was technical director for both laboratory and plant in a chemical firm in the Middle West. Another was an assistant bureau chief in the Federal Government.

Alumnae reports from the colleges show that women chemists are serving in small numbers as directors of research in industrial establishments and as heads of chemical laboratories in some hospitals and health research centers. A few women administer their own businesses as consulting chemists. The first woman to become a consulting chemist 30 years ago applied her metallurgical and gemology training to problems of jewelry manufacturing (64). Refrigeration chemistry,

722328°-486

paper chemistry, and cosmetics chemistry are other fields in which outstanding women have succeeded as consultants.

The research chemist ranks next to the administrator in earnings (45). The woman with a Ph. D. in chemistry who does not go into teaching is likely to become a research chemist. As such, she will probably have a small laboratory of her own in which to carry on independent research, with perhaps one or two assistants. Or she may be assigned to assist someone even more highly trained, on certain aspects of a research problem. Her advancement is measured in terms of earnings and depends on her ability to produce results. Openings for such work for women in the past have been relatively greater in research institutions and colleges than in industrial research.

In college teaching, advancement is evidenced by higher rank and increased salary. Although a Women's Bureau study of 330 college catalogs revealed that the majority of women chemists on college faculties have not attained a rank higher than that of instructor, 14 women in 1946 had reached the rank of full professor in chemistry, and 41 others were associate or assistant professors in these colleges, which, according to the United States Office of Education, were representative in their enrollment of the 1,749 institutions of higher education in the United States. At least one woman has become president of a woman's college after serving on the chemistry faculty.

This evidence that women can and do advance to posts of responsibility in industry and Government and in educational and research institutions does not contradict the fact that although their range of jobs is wide, women tend to be concentrated in the lower-level positions. In the Federal Government, for example, the majority are found at the two lowest professional levels, called "P-1" and "P-2." Only in the Patent Office were there as many women chemists at the P-4 and P-5 levels as at P-1 and P-2. However, in all the agencies combined they ranged through all grades up to P-7. No women chemists were in the two highest grades of P-8 and P-9. In industry, although again the range was great, concentration was at the lower levels. The technicians, research assistants, and laboratory assistants outnumbered by far those who qualified fully as chemists.

The higher turn-over among women is usually given as the major reason for their relative lack of advancement. That "men don't like to work under a woman" was given as a reason for not promoting women to group leader or other supervisory positions. However, where women were found in supervisory positions involving men in industry, Government, and research institutions, the results were reported to be satisfactory. Enough women were found in top administrative jobs involving supervision of both men and women in so-called men's fields such as sanitary control and rust prevention to indicate that such

prejudice is not inevitable and can be overcome. Their success, of course, indicates the ability to get along with people and willingness to accept responsibility as well as ability to handle the job itself.

In industry, the possible channels of advancement are more numerous for men than for women, and this is given as another principal reason for the slower advancement of women. Only a few of the men chemists remain in the central laboratory of a chemical manufacturing firm, for example, for more than 5 or 6 years. These few are those interested in and qualified (by graduate training usually) for research. The others are dispersed to the plants, where they may ultimately become plant

Figure 8.-Compounding perfume for use in brilliantine, in cosmetics chemistry research.

superintendents, or to the sales department, where their technical knowledge is utilized in sales promotion or selling. Some may be trained to purchase raw materials or to assist in the selection of personnel. A woman chemist, on the other hand, is seldom channeled out of the laboratory as a prospective candidate for such plant, sales, purchasing, or personnel work. Even in such industries as cosmetics and foods, where her sex might be considered an advantage, she is seldom considered as a potential candidate for sales openings unless she herself has the drive to suggest the idea and convince the management of its soundness. If she remains in the laboratory, her advancement depends largely upon the amount of her graduate training and upon her personal adjustment to the unique environment of the laboratory in which she works. The attitude of the head of the laboratory, as well as her own, is an important factor in easing or making more difficult her acceptance as a chemist rather than as a woman.

Organizations

The principal organization of chemists and one of the largest single professional organizations of scientists is the American Chemical Society. Founded in 1876, by the end of 1946 it had grown to approximately 48,000 members, of whom 6 percent or almost 3,000 were women. (See p. 2-55 for membership requirements.) About onefourth of all members are chemical engineers or workers in related fields, but only a few of the women are engineers. In 1943, for example, there were only 13 (3). A higher proportion of those with graduate training are found in the society than among chemists generally. In 1943, 30 percent of the nonengineering members of the American Chemical Society had the bachelor's degree only, while 43 percent had the doctorate (3).

Although women attend all the regular meetings of the American Chemical Society, the Women's Service Committee of the American Chemical Society arranges one or more sessions of special interest to women chemists attending the annual meetings of the Society, at which the Garvan Medal is awarded annually to an American-born woman chemist in recognition of distinguished service to chemistry (9).

Although no woman has ever served as an officer of the national organization, women have served on the Council of the American Chemical Society and as chairmen of sections, for example in Detroit and the Connecticut Valley. The chairman of the important New York Section of the Society in 1946 was the first woman to serve in that capacity in that Section. In the Chicago Section of the Society, which has about 160 women members, a woman was on the board of

directors in 1946, and a number were serving on committees. This is also true of the Northeastern Section.

The Society includes a large majority of the college teachers of chemistry but very few secondary school teachers. The latter usually belong to such teachers' organizations as the National Science Teachers' Association, or the New England Association of Chemistry Teachers, or the Central Association of Science and Mathematics Teachers. The American Institute of Chemists, the American Society of Biological Chemists, the American Institute of Nutrition, the Association of Consulting Chemists and Chemical Engineers, the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists, the Association of Vitamin Chemists, the Society of Chemical Industry, the Electrochemical Society, and the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists are among the numerous national organizations to which chemists who qualify may belong. The American Society of Biological Chemists has the largest number of women members. Iota Sigma Pi, composed of women students and faculty members in the field of chemistry, was organized before World War I and in 1942 had 2,600 members.

Statistics on the number of men and women chemists who are members of the Technical and Scientific Division of the United Office and Professional Workers of the Congress of Industrial Organizations are not available, but at least three women chemists and one woman biochemist were affiliated with the Washington, D. C., chapter of this union in 1946. In March 1942, the National Labor Relations Board ruled in connection with a case involving the forerunner of that group, the International Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists, and Technicians, that professional employees should not be forced into a bargaining unit composed of skilled and unskilled workers as well as professional workers (37). Union membership, then, on the part of chemists is optional, no matter where they are employed, and in 1947 it was believed to be small compared with the number of members in professional societies.

Early Postwar Employment

More than a year following VJ-day, indications were that the number of women chemists had more than tripled as compared with 1940, and that their proportion among all chemists had doubled. At the end of 1946, 6 percent of the members of the American Chemical Society and almost 7 percent of the chemists registered with the National Roster of Scientific and Specialized Personnel were women (50). Although a decrease in the employment of women chemists in industry and Government took place as the demands of war ceased, and the new recruiting of additional women practically ceased, the decline in