Why are there always more male candidates for professor and associate professor than female?

Recently, according to the 2024 internal spending regulations of Can Tho University, female candidates who meet the standards for the title of professor or associate professor will be rewarded by the school with a higher amount of money than male candidates.

Ứng viên nam giáo sư, phó giáo sư luôn nhiều hơn nữ, vì sao? - 1 — Can Tho University awarded the decision to qualify as professor and associate professor in 2024 (Photo: CTU).

Specifically, this university provides 5 million VND for each candidate to support the application for the title of professor or associate professor.

When a candidate is recognized as meeting the standards for the title of professor, male candidates will be awarded 4 million VND, female candidates will be awarded 5 million VND.

For the title of associate professor, when meeting the standards, male candidates will be awarded 2 million VND, and female candidates will be awarded 3 million VND.

The bonus amount is not high, but this school policy is humane, encouraging and motivating women in their journey to participate in scientific research and improve their academic titles and degrees.

For many years, the list of female candidates applying for the title of professor and associate professor nationwide has always been much lower than that of male candidates.

According to the list from the State Council of Professors, out of a total of 933 candidates for professor and associate professor in 2025, only 315 candidates are female. For the title of professor, the whole country has only 10 female professor candidates, and a series of majors have no female professor candidates.

Since 1976 (the first year of recognizing the titles of professor and associate professor in Vietnam), Vietnam has had only 3 female professors of mathematics. Not only mathematics, but many other fields also have extremely rare female professors.

In scientific research, the rate of women gradually decreases as the level increases, which has been a long-standing issue. At the undergraduate and master's level in many fields, the rate of women is equal to or even higher than that of men, but it will gradually decrease when studying for a doctorate, reaching associate professorship is rare and reaching professorship is considered rare.

This is explained, scientific research requires a lot of time, effort, and high concentration. While women have to take on many responsibilities such as being a mother and a wife, it is difficult for them to fully concentrate on their expertise.

Regarding bonuses, universities also have different bonus levels for candidates when they meet the standards for the title of professor or associate professor.

For example, at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, officials who are appointed as professors are rewarded 50 million VND, associate professors are rewarded 30 million VND, the condition is that they must have worked at the school for 2 years or more.