Women in math, engineering and science

Women in math, engineering and science: Drawing on our country's entire talent pool - MIT News Office: "The question we must ask as a society is not 'can women excel in math, science and engineering?'--Marie Curie exploded that myth a century ago--but 'how can we encourage more women with exceptional abilities to pursue careers in these fields?' Extensive research on the abilities and representation of males and females in science and mathematics has identified the need to address important cultural and societal factors. Speculation that 'innate differences' may be a significant cause of under-representation by women in science and engineering may rejuvenate old myths and reinforce negative stereotypes and biases.

Colleges and universities must develop a culture, as well as specific policies, that enable women with children to strike a sustainable balance between workplace and home. Of course, achieving such a balance is a challenge in many highly demanding careers. As a society we must develop methods for assessing productivity and potential that take into account the long-term potential of an individual and encourage greater harmony between the cycle of work and the cycle of life - so that both women and men may better excel in the careers of their choice.

Although we have a very long way to travel in terms of recruiting, retaining, and promoting women faculty in scientific and engineering fields, we can also point to significant progress. According to the National Science Foundation, almost no doctoral degrees in engineering were awarded to women in 1966 (0.3 percent), in contrast to 16.9 percent in 2001. And in the biological and agricultural sciences, the number of doctorates earned by women rose from 12 percent to 43.5 percent between 1966 and 2001. Our three campuses, and many others, are home to growing numbers of women who have demonstrated not only extraordinary innate ability, but the kinds of creativity, determination, perceptiveness and hard work that are prerequisites for success in science and engineering, as in many other fields."

John Hennessy is a computer scientist and president of Stanford University, Susan Hockfield is a neuroscientist and president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Shirley Tilghman is a molecular geneticist and president of Princeton University.