Why Aren't There More Female Scientists?

AEI BOOK FORUM: "Why Aren't There More Female Scientists?" November 18, 2009 http://www.aei.org/event/100171

Event information: Women have achieved or exceeded parity with men in most academic fields yet continue to be outnumbered in the physical sciences, engineering, and math. Is the dearth of women scientists the result of gender bias? Or is it the result of different interests, life circumstances, and cognitive strengths? At a time when Congress, the Obama administration, and many science and education leaders are considering dramatic and far-reaching measures to overcome a perceived bias and improve women's prospects in the sciences, Christina Hoff Sommers and her coauthors—both scientists and philosophers—weigh in on this critical discussion in the newly published volume The Science on Women and Science (AEI Press, 2009).

At this AEI event, Sommers and coauthor Rosalind Chait Barnett of the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University will discuss their findings, the larger debate about women and science, and the socioeconomic repercussions of government interventions in the academic sciences such as the planned deployment of Title IX equity law. This event will be moderated by Hanna Rosin, contributing editor of The Atlantic and a founding editor of DoubleX.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• AEI
• Christina Hoff Sommers
• Rosalind Chait Barnett
• Brandeis University
• Hanna Rosin
• The Atlantic

[purposefirst]

Christina Hoff Sommers is fabulous. She's a scholar and scientist of great integrity and courage. She has been calling it like it is regarding feminism for close to 20 years. Read her 1994 book, Who Stole Feminism, to see how the radical feminist extremists took over the feminist movement, and the effects which continue today.

[jm3083]

Why aren't more female scientist because they must not want to be!

[prschuster]

One possible cause for low high school graduation and college attendance rates for boys is that there are too many distractions in low income areas. When a boy is always pressured to develop survival skills on the street because he doesn't live in the protected environment of a suburban neighborhood, he has less energy & interest in school studies. I'd also encourage more studies to determine what is innate & what is socially constructed with gender.

[InitialDjay2]

Its partly motivation, perseverance, and belief.

[aleerarose]

The reason why there's less female scientists is because it is quite a demanding career. We have babies - just when people are entering their prime in terms of career, women are starting to consider having children. It's a cruel biological fact of life. But my professors at university that teach my science class are both women, some women can do both.

[furstenfeldbruck]

im glad i have three female teachers who all taught science class at my high school i think the're hot and very beautiful too :)

[UgksReaper]

@MastaHack2 Wrong people do not like science because they dont see an initial benefit from it therefore judge it as worthless.If your going to be an engineer why would you need to take a biology class?

[ORVX]

WHAT?? why whould shte say she does not want a National oranization for boys? If she is saying get rid of all this none sense, then I'm with her, but that is not what I think I heard her say.

[papeluso]

I'm highly concerned on why the women in this panel did not have any information on other countries.

For example, How do women perform in the sciences in:

1) Canada

2) Japan

3) England

4) Turkey

I believe no one would dispute that these countries are worthy enough to compare to the United States.

Where is the female data for these countries????

[MastaHack2]

In the community college that i attend, the males usually drop the class and the females stay and make the better grades. The reason why people do not like science is because somewhere along the way they put it in our minds that science is hard there for we should not do it. However, i find it easy so i was able to shake this myth off. However the other issue is money, after i finish taking my classes, I will need to find a way to pay for the university classes without getting into debt.