Some Positions Held by Women With Degrees in Chemistry

"I work for a company that makes all kinds of equipment for the identification of textile fabrics. Our laboratory has developed an indelible marking ink which is invisible in daylight or artificial light, but which shines out bright blue when viewed under 'black light.' My job consists in preparing the ingredients of this invisible ink and also the ink itself. I also do research on all types of problems involving textile identification and marking, both invisible and visible."

"I analyze fats and oils in a foods laboratory, determining the melting point, setting point, and iodine number."

"As a senior control chemist in a cosmetics company, I do most of the analyses of special nature as well as the regular soap analysis. I make solutions for the laboratory and for various departments through the plant. I assign work to and check the performance of the junior control chemists who make crude glycerine analyses and test raw materials and such finished products as powder and creams.”

As an organic chemist in a pharmaceutical firm, "I do research on medical compounds of various types. At present, I'm working on the problem of local anesthetics."

"Serving on the faculty of a medical school I teach classes in pediatrics and in addition, accumulate extensive data on blood chemistry, circulation and respiratory changes in fatigue. During peacetime, my studies have been directed toward the management of heart diseases in children; during the war, toward the study of the physical fitness of soldiers in instances of delayed convalescence."

“As a technician in the research and developmental laboratory of a plant manufacturing glass products, I develop experimentally new products or develop the application of standard processes (or variations of standard processes) to new products or products in service, or perform experimental test work on general glass problems, as assigned."

Chemist as Defined in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (46)

"Chemist (professional and kindred) 0-07.80. Performs analytical and research work of a professional nature in the general field of chemistry: makes quantitative and qualitative analyses to determine chemical and physical properties of materials. Makes chemical tests on manufactured goods, such as foods, drugs, plastics, dyes, paints, and petroleum products, and develops new processes to improve products. Supervises other workers in laboratory research or industrial control activities and prepares technical reports."

Chemist as Defined by the Council of the American Chemical Society, 1944 (18)

"A chemist is one properly versed in the science that treats of the composition of substances and the transformations they undergo.”

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THE OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN

CHEMISTRY

Chemistry easily outstrips all the other sciences in its employment of women, and also of men, if the applied sciences of engineering and medicine are excluded. In 1946, between 5,000 and 6,000 women chemists, with at least the bachelor's degree or its equivalent in experience, were employed in chemical laboratories or in related work in the United States. The proportion of all chemists who are women is relatively small, however, roughly 6 percent or 1 out of 16. In astronomy and mathematics as well as in the principal biological sciences, the percentage women form of all those employed is higher than in chemistry. However, the number of women in all these fields combined is less than the number of women in chemistry (50).

Because World War II created an insatiable demand for chemists and at the same time diverted into military service many of the men available for laboratory work, women chemists were prized, and young women were urged to train for chemical laboratory work.

At the end of the war, as men returning from service resumed their jobs in laboratories or their college training, women began to ask:

Will the demand for women chemists continue at wartime levels? Has the increase in the number of women in chemistry during the war improved or reduced the employment chances of college women training for chemical work?

Are there certain chemical fields which offer greater opportunity for women than others?

To answer these and similar questions, it is necessary first to look backward to see how women chemists fared before the war.

Prewar Distribution

In 1940, according to the Bureau of Census, 1,654, or about 3 percent of the 57,025 chemists, assayers, and metallurgists employed in the United States were women (44). These totals do not include many teachers of chemistry who were counted as teachers rather than as chemists.

Where women chemists were employed and what kind of chemical work they were doing was not reported by the Census. But an indi

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cation of their duties is available from studies of two groups of women chemists:

(1) Those well-trained and experienced enough to qualify for membership in the American Chemical Society (almost half of the women members in 1941 had a Ph. D., and one-third had a master's degree) (2);

(2) Some of the younger, less experienced women who were graduated with a bachelor's degree in chemistry not long before World War II (23).

Type of Employment

In both groups, teachers of chemistry were most numerous. More than one-third of the more experienced women chemists were teaching, most of them on college faculties; one-fourth of the younger group were also teaching, the majority in high schools.

Research work absorbed the next largest group of the women members of the American Chemical Society, almost one-fourth of them, while only one-tenth of the more recent graduates were in research. One-fourth of the latter, however, were engaged in further study, preparing themselves for later research, college teaching, or for a related profession such as medicine. The women already in research work were engaged mostly in basic scientific study not directly related to industrial or other practical problems. In this, they differed from men chemists, for whom industrial research was the largest single outlet.

The general belief that most women chemists in laboratories are engaged primarily in the analysis or routine testing of raw materials, finished products, or goods in process, while most men chemists are engaged in research, is apparently true if all chemists are considered. However, table 1 shows clearly that even before the war the proportion of experienced women chemists who were engaged in analytical work was actually lower than that of a comparable group of men. The explanation may be found by looking at the less experienced group of women. A much higher proportion of them, about one-fourth, were doing analytical work, usually in hospital or other medical laboratories rather than in industry.

The chief differences in the type of employment of men and women chemists before the war were: the lower proportion of women in industrial research, their lower proportion in administration, and their higher proportion in teaching. (See table 1.) The higher proportion of women chemists in chemical library and information service was also significant.

Table 1. Type of Occupation of Men and Women Members of the American Chemical Society 1941, Compared With That of Less Experienced Group of Women in Chemistry 1938

1 Excludes male chemical engineers. It was possible to exclude the chemical engineering group from the figures for men, since the 3.645 male chemical engineers were reported separately. However, it is possible that a maximum of 7 chemical engineers may be included among the 671 women members reporting 1941 occupation.

Not reported separately.

Sources: For Group I-1944 Study of the American Chemical Society (3). For Group II-1939 Study by Ethel L. French (23).

Type of Employer

More marked than the differences in the kind of work done by men and women chemists before the war were the differences in the type of establishments in which they worked. (See table 2.) Almost twothirds of the men members of the American Chemical Society, excluding those in chemical engineering, reported that they were employed by private industrial firms in 1941; but only one-fourth, roughly, of the women chemists were working in industry. For the women, Government and educational agencies were more important sources of employment. Less than 3 percent of both women and men chemists were self-employed in consulting work. In this they differ from those engaged in such professions as law and medicine, where private practice predominates.