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Women advocates and men critics: How referees' gender influence candidates likelihood of receiving promotion

March 9, 2025

In this article, we found that women letter writers tend to use less doubt language, fewer personal pronouns, and overall a  more positive tone. After collecting data from a sample of 10,056 ERL emphasizing gender roles, we found that a higher proportion of women letter writers is linked to fewer negative votes, and a higher chance of provost approval. These findings call for a revision in the P&T process, as it questions the validity in ERL writing. 

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The current research was supported with funding from the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. NSF ADVANCE IT Grant #1409928 and NSF EHR research grant #2100034 to the University of Houston, PI: Madera, J.; NSF Racial Equity in STEM Education Grant #2411941 to the University of Merced, PI: Spitzmueller, C. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed on this website are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.