Profiles of Academic Activities and Careers: Does Gender Matter? An Analysis Based on French Life Scientist CVs

The aim of this paper is to analyze the factors that influence the length of time to promotion for male and female academics. Promotion is defined as elevation to a professorship. We examine the role of academic profiles, which are based not only on publications, but also include activities such as fund raising, consulting, teaching, and managerial appointments (dean of a department for instance). The paper examines the factors that speed up or slow down the progress of an academic career for males and females, respectively, to explore the “glass ceiling” effects. Survival and duration models are used to test whether the gender differential persists after controlling for observed and unobserved heterogeneity. The originality of this paper lies in the use of duration models to track sex differences in promotion criteria. It highlights that the different criteria of promotion for male and female academics: women have to demonstrate higher involvement in different networks in order to be promoted.