Where Rhodes Women Work - and The Gender Discrimination They Face.

The Rhodes Scholarship is a life-changing opportunity for people from across the world to study at the University of Oxford. The scholarship began in the early 20th century. But only in 1977 – after the election of more than 4,000 men - were applications opened to women.

The Rhodes Project, under the leadership of Dr Ann Olivarius (elected 1978), has charted the careers of the 1,625 women who have won the award. This research will appear in her forthcoming book, Leading Women: Success and Struggle among Female Rhodes Scholars. This blog is the first of many that will briefly report on some of the findings that will be discussed at greater length in the book.

Both scholars and non-scholars alike often ask about the careers pursued by Rhodes women after graduation. They most commonly enter three professions: academia, medicine, and law. Combined, these three sectors employ over half of all female scholars. Among them, academia is the most popular, attracting more than one quarter of female scholars. Half as many Rhodes women entered medicine; slightly more went into law. 

A little less than one-quarter of female scholars are divided about equally among work in government, consulting, and finance. About 20% are evenly spread across business, journalism or writing, nonprofits, and a potpourri category that includes clergy, architects, stay-at-home mothers, and winemaking. Less than 5% of female scholars work in thinktanks or philanthropy.

The Rhodes Project also gathered employment data on all male scholars from the late-1970s, as well as a random sample of 200 of the men elected from each subsequent decade. Our data showed the presence of gender-based discrimination in each professional category. In all sectors and across all decades, more male scholars have been promoted to more senior positions.

Female scholars are less likely to pursue commercial and financial jobs – and more likely to enter academia, medicine, nonprofits, philanthropy, and so-called ‘social enterprises.’ More of the women, too, work for international organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank. But even in industries that draw in a greater percentage of Rhodes women than Rhodes men, male scholars tend to achieve greater and earlier seniority.

The conclusion is hard to miss: despite their certified talents and ambition, female Rhodes scholars face discrimination from many angles. Many of the women were expected to make career sacrifices for their spouses. Professors reported being pressured into ‘service’ activities that receive little acknowledgment while their male colleagues were freed for research and publishing that garners widespread acclaim. Physicians who gave birth were viewed as less devoted to their patients. Female scholars with greater earnings and professional responsibilities than their male partners still did the lion’s share of childrearing and household chores. And too many Rhodes women report outright verbal and physical harassment, not just in their careers but also during their earlier undergraduate years and while studying at Oxford.

The Rhodes Trust awards scholarships to those it considers will satisfy the moral imperative of “Standing Up for the World.” For Rhodes women, even at this late date, part of fulfilling that imperative must unfortunately include standing up for themselves, and for other women still prevented by discrimination from reaching their full potential.