An examination of gender differences in scholarly productivity among physical educators

The purpose of this study was to examine gender differences in scholarly productivity among physical educators in higher education. Productivity was defined as research activity which results in publication in a refereed journal within the field of physical education. The gender of authors of articles in nineteen journals were classified for a five-year time period from 1979 to 1983. Results were based on a total of 1, 798 articles and 2, 623 authors. The results indicated that there were significantly more men than women who were primary and secondary authors. Journals which had strong female representation on their editorial boards tended to publish more manuscripts authored by women. The findings were compared to those patterns of productivity existing in other academic disciplines. The explanation of these results included a discussion of the structural barriers that may inhibit the scholarly productivity levels of female physical educators.