Sex Differences and Promotion Prospects in Clinical Psychology in Scotland

The following paper compares the gender bias in the Clinical Psychology profession in Scotland between 1990 and 1997. A larger proportion of females as compared with males are found both at the post-graduate training stage up until 1996 and at all levels of the profession, with the exception of B-grades where there were more males, in 1990. The study gives some evidence of a shift towards parity of the sexes between 1990 and 1996. A more equal ratio of males to female clinical psychology graduates is found in 1996 and a similar ratio of male to female B Grade clinical psychologists was found in 1997. However, the latter suggests that a disproportionate number of males hold B Grade posts when taken in the context of the demographics of the Scottish Clinical Psychology profession as a whole. A number of implications of these findings are discussed.