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678 SOHAR ET AL. GENDER DATA GAP 679

90 not considered gender tracking to be an import- capability of their software to track gender
ant demographic to collect from those who submit • A feeling that they could access the data
Respondents (Total Number) 60 Additional details were provided by 21 of the total • No one has previously asked the TTO for this
invention disclosures, while 11% reported that they
through another campus resource if they
75
did not know why their offices did not track gender
needed or wanted
in their systems (Figure 3).
particular metric
respondents as to why they did not currently track
• Resource constraints limiting the office from
45
gender (Figure 4). These responses include:
tracking
• A sense that the university is so small that the
• Concerns over liability of tracking gender and/
40
TTO staff was already familiar with the inven-
or their internal human resource policies
tors, so formal tracking was unnecessary
15
• A perception that tracking gender was or would
place in the office to begin tracking gender
be difficult to implement or concerns with the
0
Survey link in initial email Follow-up calls All methods • No perceived benefit to tracking gender • Consideration or actual planning was taking
Figure 1. WIC metrics subcommittee response. The number of survey respondents and method of response. 50 50
indicated an interest in learning more about how to the WIC/MSC survey and 28 additional university 40 40
implement tracking at their universities. These calls TTOs using the follow-up call method. Total respon-
were all made by the WIC/MSC chair, and the discus- dents to the survey were 81 universities out of 189, 30
sions included the advocacy talking points addressed which gave an overall response rate of almost 43%. Respondents (Total Number) 30
in the committee follow-up calls to initial non-re- Respondents (Total Number) 20
spondents outlined above. Gender Tracking Survey Results 20
The data received by both outreach mechanisms
Gender Tracking Technology showed that six TTOs were tracking gender at the 10
The WIC/MSC also reviewed the gender track- time of the survey, which was 7% of overall respon- 10
ing capabilities of software utilized by TTOs to help dents (Figure 2). The most cited reason for not 0
determine what type of additional efforts would be tracking gender was attributed to the TTO having 0 Had not really considered it Not sure Other
Had not really considered it
Other
required to track gender. Four primary companies Figure 3. Rationale for not tracking gender. Reasoning provided by non-tracking universities as to why they have not been
Not sure
were identified: InfoEd Global, Inteum, Tech Tracks/ Overall Tracking of Gender By TTO tracking gender.
6
Knowledge Sharing System (KSS), and Wellspring.
The WIC/MSC contacted all four companies 7% 6
regarding their capabilities and requested contact
information to share with TTO offices for assistance if 4
necessary. Initial contact was made via email explain-
ing the mission of the WIC/MSC and requesting a 4 Respondents (Total Number)
follow-up call. Calls were completed with a senior 2
executive of each of the software companies. This
information was used to generate a software capa- 93% Respondents (Total Number)
bility spreadsheet, which was posted on the WIC 2
website. This spreadsheet was also utilized as a ref- 0 Liability/HR Uncertain of Implementation Other ways of Planning to Metric not Resource
erence during follow-up calls with university TTOs. Concerns benefits difficulties getting data track in future required by constraints
institution
RESULTS Tracking Gender Not Tracking Gender 0 Liability/HR Uncertain of Implementation Other ways of Planning to Metric not Resource
Responses to the survey (Figure 1) included 52 Figure 2. Overall tracking of gender by TTO. The percentage of Concerns benefits difficulties getting data track in future required by constraints
institution
TTOs responding directly to the emailed version of survey respondents as to whether or not they track gender. Figure 4. Additional reasons cited for not tracking gender.