Balancing the Equation

What We Know & What We Need

K-12: Elementary and Secondary Education
What we know:

• In 1999, 56 percent of Advanced Placement AB test takers were female, but 90 percent of computer science test takers and 78 percent of physics C test takers were male.




• Girls are more successful in math and science programs that incorporate a cooperative, hands-on approach than in programs that stress competition and individual learning.



• Girls benefit from extracurricular all-girl science programs. Nearly 70 percent of high school girls who attend Smith College's Summer Science and Engineering Program go on to major in science.



• Twenty-five years ago, girls comprised around 25 percent of the Science Talent Search* finalists were girls; by 1999, they girls constituted 45 percent. The winners of the Intel Science Talent Search in 1999, 2000 and 2001 were girls. (*Formerly known as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search).



• By eighth grade, Latinas have higher math scores than their male peers; and by twelfth grade they do better in science than Latinos, but they are outperformed by their male peers on the Math SATs.



• Strategies that increase girls' success in the sciences are also effective with boys, especially those from under-represented groups.



• Girls tend to use computers in ways different from boys. Most software developers target boys as the end users.

• Community-wide involvement: Communities must invest in science and technology literacy at all levels, provide resources for teachers to develop their science careers, and actively encourage parents to promote their daughters' interest in science and technology.



• Inclusive teaching styles: At all levels - the state, district, PTA, principal, teacher, parent - the school system must encourage gender-equitable teaching practices that recognize the experiences and learning styles of girls and young women.



• School-based mentoring programs: Schools need to identify and encourage visible role models for women and girls and institute mentoring programs.



• An interdisciplinary focus: Teachers should emphasize how technology, like computers, can be integrated into other fields, such as politics, ecology and health, to spark girls' interest.



• Demonstration of human links: Teachers should illustrate the people-helping and society-advancing aspects of science and technology.

• There has been a steep decline in women's participation in undergraduate computer science. In 1984, women earned 37 percent of undergraduate computer science degrees. In 1999, women earned less than 20 percent of computer science degrees.



• In 1996, women earned 53 percent of undergraduate degrees in biology and 46 percent of degrees in math and statistics, but just 19 percent of physics degrees and 18 percent of engineering degrees.



• Carnegie Mellon University increased the percentage of women in its first year computing science class from 7% in 1995 to 40% in 2000.



• African American women earn proportionally more science and engineering undergraduate degrees than African American men. The same is true for Latinas and Native American women compared to their male peers, but does not hold true for white and Asian women.



• A study by Wellesley College found that the opportunity to conduct research was a significant factor in women's decision to remain with a science major. However, a link to 'real world' issues remains important: studies conducted by the University of Florida and Carnegie Mellon found that women tend to enter scientific fields with a focus on helping people, rather than pure research.



• Programs to support women in engineering have contributed to their rise from 2 percent of undergraduate engineering degree recipients in the 1970s to 18 percent by the 1990s.

• Exercise leadership at all levels to mandate gender equitable practices: Colleges and universities must commit adequate resources to sustain and expand programs that advance women and other underrepresented groups in the sciences and engineering.



• Curriculum adjustment: Colleges and universities should reform curricula to replace gatekeeping courses with more welcoming introductory courses, accommodate late bloomers, and offer opportunities for cross-disciplinary studies that include science and technology.



• Mentoring programs and role models: Colleges and universities should invest in formal mentoring programs starting with first-year students. Visible role models who demonstrate that careers in the sciences can be personally satisfying and also benefit society are also critical.



• Revamped admissions policies: Administrators must examine admissions practices that perpetuate bias through an over-reliance on test scores and Advanced Placement grades.

• While the percentage of women science faculty is rising, relatively few have reached leadership positions. Less than 10 percent of full professors in the sciences today are women, despite the fact that women have been earning more than one-quarter of the Ph.D.s in science for 30 years.



• Among science, math and engineering faculty, women tend to teach at more junior levels than men and are less likely to be tenured. The salary gap between male and female faculty increases with age.



• Contrary to the popular perception that women scientists leave academia because of demands at home, most remain continuously employed after completing their training.



• From 1975 to 1992, three-quarters of African American women receiving Ph.D.s in biology came from historically black institutions.



• Universities tend to be slower than private industries to establish family friendly practices such as shared jobs or extended maternity leaves.



• In 1997, women earned 41 percent of Ph.D.s in biology and agricultural science, but only 23 percent of math Ph.D.s, 22 percent of Ph.D.s in the physical sciences, 16 percent in computer sciences, and 12 percent of engineering doctorates.

• Attention to work-life balance: Universities must address the work-family issues facing graduate and postgraduate students and faculty - for both men and women.



• Self-examination: Institutions must analyze their own practices and assumptions at all levels in order to change "chilly" climates and enhance women's opportunities.



• Support venues that support alternative visions of scientific work: Institutions should encourage programs, such as women's studies and interdisciplinary programs, to encourage the cross-fertilization of scientific inquiry with other perspectives.



• A view beyond science majors: Universities should look to liberal arts, women's colleges and historically black colleges and universities when recruiting students for graduate science and engineering departments. Women science Ph.D.s are more likely than their male counterparts to come from liberal arts institutions.



• Role models and mentors: Universities must appoint women professors to influential committees where they will be visible as role models, and provide mentors to women graduate students, instructors, researchers and assistant professors early in their careers.

• Women constitute 45 percent of the workforce in the U.S., but hold just 12 percent of science and engineering jobs in business and industry.



• The salary gap between male and female computer and mathematical scientists persists and increases with age: the 1995 median salary for women in their 20s with bachelor degrees was $35,000 compared to $38,000 for men; such women in their 40s earned $48,000 compared to $57,000 for men.



• A recent seven-year study found that women are twice as likely as men to leave science and engineering jobs for careers in other fields.



• In a recent survey of 265 women IT professionals in the Boston area, 68% expressed deep concern with the stress caused by long hours, and 65% said the work negatively impacted their personal lives.



• A study of biotechnology firms, in which women were nearly half the workforce, found that the work was structured to allow flexibility, personal achievement and support from colleagues. There were also ample middle management opportunities for women, albeit fewer at the top levels.



• Women working in science and technology are developing increasingly strong networks. Hewlett-Packard's Technical Women's conference grew nearly seven-fold from 400 employees in 1988 to 2,700 employee by 1995. Systers, a community of women in computer science now includes over 3,000 women in 38 countries.

• Diversity and leadership development strategies: Employers must develop strategies to make the workplace more diverse, promote capable women to senior decision-making positions, provide role models for younger women employees, and offer more opportunities for networking and mentoring



• Research opportunities for new recruits: Employers should immediately assign new science and engineering graduates to actual projects, rather than training exercises, to help recruits make the job transition and improve retention rates.



• Leadership support for family-friendly policies: Employers must establish and promote family-friendly policies, and top executives should encourage male and female employees to take advantage of those policies.



• Fair hiring and promotion practices: Employers must stop the practice of biased hiring and promoting policies based on a perceived risk associated with promoting women. Businesses need to end practices that set a double standard for measuring men's and women's achievement.



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This page was last updated on Sept 5, 2002.
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