Women in Science Careers

According to a six-year study reviewed by the University of Washington Human Rights Committee, conducted by Suzanne Brainard and Linda Carlin on undergraduate women in science, “20% of freshmen reported no barriers; only 3% of seniors could say the same.”(Bickenstaff 380) This study illustrates a common theme for women studying a science. There is no one defining reason for why women feel there are barriers but several theories suggest that there could be more than one contributing factor that causes these ‘barriers’ for women. Looking at multiple possibilities, it can be determined what causes the under representation of women in science careers such as physics, biology, technology, engineering, and math.

There are many examples of areas in science which women choose not pursue for one reason or another; Sue V. Rosser, from the Georgia Institute of Technology studies women in work and academy, and found that “women [earn] 55.5 percent of the Master of Science degrees in all fields, they [earn] only 39.3 percent of the degrees in science and engineering fields” (53). Women may be pursuing some forms of science, but not to the extent of equality in certain areas. The American Association of University Women reinforces that “women earned only 21 percent of doctoral degrees in computer science in 2006” as quoted from the National Science Foundation (1). Sue Rosser observes that “Women [earn] 40.6 percent of the Ph.D.s in all fields but only 32.8 percent of the Ph.D.s in science and engineering” (53). Whatever the cause, it is apparent that women fall behind in degrees in many types of science fields. Arguable explanations for this vary from lack of intelligence of women, to fear of sexual harassment.

A popular stereotype is t...

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...uccess in science and engineering, research shows that spatial skills can be improved fairly easily with training (22). In response to discrimination, Hill cites that “Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits sex discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. […] During the last 37 years, however, Title IX has been applied mostly to sports” (13). The policies of Title IX should apply to all women in the workforce to assure that sexual harassment never occurs. Women should no longer be looked down upon when it comes to intelligence in math and sciences. And classes for spatial skills improvement should be provided to any women with a desire to work in a field requiring that type of skill. With these types of changes, women will not be as under represented in any of the STEM fields as they currently are.