Wednesday June 08, 2005

Another set of myths ... about women in science and engineering

For those of you who are not aware, there is an online mentoring organization called MentorNet. MentorNet "addresses the retention and success of those in engineering, science and mathematics, particularly but not exclusively women and other underrepresented groups." If you'd like to sign up, they're looking for people working in the sciences, though they seem to have a glut of computer scientists. MentorNet puts out a newsletter for its members, and recently published the following article:

Exploding Myths About Women in Science and Engineering

In the article, 3 myths about why so few women go into the sciences are discussed. It is instructive, but I don't think it goes far enough. Myth #1 states that "Math = Science", but I don't see what that has to do with women. Unless they're referring to another long held belief in the myth that women can't do math. Which is, of course, pure bunk.

What I find scary is that people really believe this nonsense, to the point where a Harvard president vocalizes these beliefs. Would that it were that they could walk a mile in a woman's shoes ... they might face the situation that a "mentee" of mine faced. She spent a semester studying at a state college in Florida (her college was in California). Since her major was computer science, naturally she took computer science classes. In a couple of cases, she was the only woman in a large class. In one case the professor took her aside and asked her what she was doing in the class. Not understanding, she explained that her major was computer science. To which this complete idiot "college professor" replied that girls don't go into the sciences, they usually stick with liberal arts subjects. This was 1997, folks, a college professor. Not to mention that in another class where she was the only woman the professor continually singled her out, referring to her as an example, calling on her extensively, to the point of embarrassment. Gee, I wonder why women give up...

When I tell stories like this, people don't believe me, or they think this is an isolated incident. I've heard from several women who've left engineering because of the environment. This kind of stuff goes on all the time, relentlessly. Those of us who can put up with it do. But many want a better quality of life than that, and so they move on to different careers, or to found their own companies.

For woman who want a leg up, I'd recommend reading Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide

( Jun 08 2005, 09:15:55 AM PDT ) Permalink