I want to encourage _all_ who are interested in science to go for it!

Even in my job, I work to make sure that science access is available to those it’s ordinarily not available for.

What should I be doing? Can you take a look at my blog?

The fact is that women comprise a disproportionally small number of engineering, science and technology professionals. This is lack of participation is made even more stark when one sees what field within engineering, science and technology women actually do go into. Women in biological sciences, yes, women in math, no. Women in “social sciences” (as if there were such a thing) yes, women in physics, no. From my own personal experiences, I have found that women tend to congregate in engineering filed where physical sciences are more pronounce: chemical, biomedical, environmental and less so when they are more technology driven: mechanical, nuclear, electrical.

The notion that women and men’s brains are different on a fundamental level is a scientific fact that no amount of gender identity politics can undo. Does this fundamental difference translate into career preferences and even abilities, once again, the answer is most likely yes. Men and women evolved with a set of different specialized skills, some of the skills men evolved with make them more apt for engineering, science and technology.

That we have an ongoing debate framed in emotional terms speaks volumes to the concept of politicization of science.

Incidentally I attended a talk at the Grace Hopper Confgerence for Women in Computing in which the speaker talked about how prevalent the Imposter Syndrome is among women. There are also myriad ways in which women are subtly discriminated against. For instance recommendation letters for men will typically stress research potential and intelligence while those for women will talk more about sociability, service and ability to get along. We need to observe and deal with these biases as well as we can. The best documentation of all the small and big ways in which women are discriminated against is to be found in the NAS report titled “Beyond Bias and Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering (2007)” which is extremely readable.

Also, though I didn’t go, I got into MIT as an undergrad, and had classmates at the school I went to (who didn’t get in) tell me that I only got in because I was a girl, too. It’s pretty pervasive, that feeling. And it’s tough to push past– no wonder women often suffer from Impostor Syndrome.

There is still quite a long way to go.

As a total aside: Lorna Gibson, the faculty member pictured in the piece, is my husband’s former advisor. She is a fantastic person and mentor.