Ferber, Marianne A., Jane W. Loeb, and Helen M. Lowry. 1978. "The Economic Status of Women Faculty: A Reappraisal." Journal of Human Resources 13(3):385-401.

Recent publications have argued that (1) differences in performance of men and women in university faculties account for most or all of the existing differences in rank and salary, (2) faculty wives receive preferential treatment in order to attract their husbands, and (3) affirmative action is potentially harmful to the quality of universities. This study, conducted on a large research-oriented campus, finds (1) support for the hypothesis that performance is in part a function of rewards, (2) no evidence that faculty wives are rewarded more highly than other women, and (3), quality, as measured by publications, appears to have increased since affirmative action was introduced.

Ferber is Associate Professor of Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Loeb is Director of Admissions and Records, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and Lowry is Project Coordinator, Survey Research Center, Oregon State University. We would like to thank Susan Braugham for her assistance in obtaining the ratings of professional journals and Catherine Yancey for her help in gathering the data. We also want to express our appreciation of the ready access to University data for our study.

© 2003 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

US ISSN 0022-166X

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