Breadcrumb Trail
Home > Employment and Legal Issues > Diversity in the Workplace > Diversity in Engineering and Science > Abstract of "Women in Science and Engineering"	Text Only Email This

Abstract of "Women in Science and Engineering"

Author(s): Stephen G. Brush

The number of American women who earn science and engineering degrees has unexpectedly reached a plateau, after a steady increase from 1960 to 1980. However, it is still far lower than the number of men. Only about one-third as many women as men choose science when they enter college, and a much smaller percentage get a Ph.D. and find a job in a technical field.

There are several factors that seem to discourage women from entering and staying in science and engineering professions during the past two decades.

The Stereotypic Scientist: Science is portrayed negatively, and the scientist is portrayed as a nerd. When women scientists are featured in mass-circulation magazines, they are often portrayed as atypical scientists and atypical women. Science appears to be incompatible with the femininity of women.
Textbook Portrayals of Scientists and Engineers.: Rarely are the scientists and engineers mentioned or pictured in textbooks female. Publishers have failed to integrate the few photographs of women, blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities with the text.
Publicity about the Mental Inferiority of Females: In the 1970s and early 1980s, newspapers and popular magazines published many articles that usually stated or implied that women are inferior to men in the cognitive abilities needed for success in science: spatial visualization and mathematical skills.
The Special Problems of Engineering: Women are discouraged from pursuing a career in engineering even more strongly than from pursuing a career in science. They are afraid that they will be considered unfeminine if they enter this field. Moreover, many people are still not comfortable with women as engineers.
Inadequate Preparation: In public schools, physics is condensed into a tough one-year course at the end of high school, and that course is optional. By that time, girls are in the middle of the adolescent socialization process; conforming to sex-role stereotypes may seem more important than undertaking an intellectual challenge.
Bias of the Scholastic Aptitude Test: For the past several years, men's scores on the SAT have been higher, on the average, than women's. That might be attributed to the fact that there has been a gradual introduction of test questions about science, business, and practical affairs, and elimination of some questions about human relations, the arts, and the humanities. If a man and a woman have the same SAT scores, the woman will tend to get higher grades in college. Thus, SAT scores underpredict the performance of women compared to that of men.
Coeducation: There is a need for "a favorable climate for women students who are intellectually motivated and capable" because such a climate "conveys to them a sense of being in an environment where there are many other women seriously involved in a variety of academic pursuits."
Cutbacks in Financial Aid: Women are considered to be less fit than men to borrow money for educational expenses. Perhaps it is because the average salary for women with college degrees is much lower than that for men.
Inappropriate Teaching Methods: Students who enter college enthusiastic about the sciences often take a few courses and then switch to a non-science major. According to many reports, women perceive the college science classroom as unfriendly and overly competitive, and they often have the impression that their own cognitive style, particularly if it is imaginative or intuitive, is not one appropriate to scientific research.
Sexist Attitudes of Professors and Students: Women say that they have to face preconceived notions about the seriousness of women's commitments as computer scientists and "negative judgments of women's qualifications made on the basis of gender." They also complain that it is harder for them to participate in the informal interactions with male colleagues that are so important to research in science.
Combative Interactions among Scientists: Many women who have completed a B.S. and entered a graduate program in science drop out before gaining the Ph.D. Sheila Widnall has suggested one reason many women are disturbed by a male communication style "that seeks to reduce one of the protagonists to rubble in the course of a scientific discussion."
The Glass Ceiling: Strong statistical evidence has shown that the modern university has discriminated against women in tenure and promotion decisions. Only 17% of the full-time women faculty in American colleges were full professors, compared with 44% of the men. Women continue to experience higher unemployment, lower pay, and fewer promotion opportunities than their male counterparts.

The remedies suggested were:

De-emphasize the SAT.
Publicize recent research on cognitive differences based on gender.
Fund intervention programs for the long haul.
Revise the tenure system.

--abstract by Online Ethics Center staff

Stephen G. Brush "Women in Science and Engineering" American Scientist 79 ( 1991): 404-419