Barriers & Challenges to Advancement

The stigma for women to pursue STEM careers starts at an early age. Stereotypes about the difficulty of certain subjects and subtle cultural and societal cues about “masculine” and “feminine” subject matter discourage girls from pursuing these studies. Also, technology toys and video games tend to be designed and marketed for boys rather than girls. According to the National Center for Women and Information Technology, high school girls associate computer science with “male geeks,” and tend to avoid science and technology clubs and activities. In higher education and STEM careers, women often report feeling isolated, marginalized and hampered by a lack of female mentors and role models. More effort is needed to encourage women to pursue advanced studies and careers in STEM through networking, hiring more women into positions of seniority and instituting parent-friendly advanced degree programs and research projects.

More women may suffer from math anxiety than men

Teaser:

A University of Cambridge and University of Oxford study discovered that children who suffered from mathematics anxiety performed worse on math problems, affecting their performance. Girls suffered more math anxiety, even when they performed well.

Editorial:

From CBS News:

In a University of Cambridge and University of Oxford study that looked at 433 British schoolchildren, researchers discovered that those who suffered from mathematics anxiety performed worse on math problems, affecting their performance. The study was published in Behavioral and Brain Functions on July 9.

Overall, more girls were affected by math anxiety than the boys. However, there were no gender differences in performance even if the girls dreaded doing math more. Researchers concluded that girls may be able to do even better in math if it wasn't for their anxiety levels.

"These results might suggest that girls may have had the potential to perform better than boys in mathematics, however, their performance may have been attenuated by higher levels of (mathematics anxiety)," the study authors wrote.

[...]

Source:

CBS News

URL:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57469718-10391704/more-women-may-suffer-from-math-anxiety-than-men/

Date:

July 16, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Gender Differences in the Salaries of Physician Researchers

Teaser:

Researchers find that, all other things equal, female physicians still make approximately $12,000 per year less than their male counterparts.

Editorial:

Context It is unclear whether male and female physician researchers who perform similar work are currently paid equally.

Objectives To determine whether salaries differ by gender in a relatively homogeneous cohort of physician researchers and, if so, to determine if these differences are explained by differences in specialization, productivity, or other factors.

Design and Setting A US nationwide postal survey was sent in 2009-2010 to assess the salary and other characteristics of a relatively homogeneous population of physicians. From all 1853 recipients of National Institutes of Health (NIH) K08 and K23 awards in 2000-2003, we contacted the 1729 who were alive and for whom we could identify a mailing address.

Participants The survey achieved a 71% response rate. Eligibility for the present analysis was limited to the 800 physicians who continued to practice at US academic institutions and reported their current annual salary.

Main Outcome Measures A linear regression model of self-reported current annual salary was constructed considering the following characteristics: gender, age, race, marital status, parental status, additional graduate degree, academic rank, leadership position, specialty, institution type, region, institution NIH funding rank, change of institution since K award, K award type, K award funding institute, years since K award, grant funding, publications, work hours, and time spent in research.

Results The mean salary within our cohort was $167 669 (95% CI, $158 417-$176 922) for women and $200 433 (95% CI, $194 249-$206 617) for men. Male gender was associated with higher salary (+$13 399; P = .001) even after adjustment in the final model for specialty, academic rank, leadership positions, publications, and research time. Peters-Belson analysis (use of coefficients derived from regression model for men applied to women) indicated that the expected mean salary for women, if they retained their other measured characteristics but their gender was male, would be $12 194 higher than observed.

Conclusion Gender differences in salary exist in this select, homogeneous cohort of mid-career academic physicians, even after adjustment for differences in specialty, institutional characteristics, academic productivity, academic rank, work hours, and other factors.

Source:

JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association

URL:

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1182859

Date:

June 13, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

The Women and People of Color Who Invented the Internet

Teaser:

Ms. examines the whitewashing that accompanies NYT's David Streitfeld's declaration that men invented the internet.

Editorial:

From the Ms. Blog:

A Sunday New York Times article by David Streitfeld has the feminist and tech worlds up in arms. Reporting on a sexual harassment suit filed by a junior partner in a venture capital firm, Streitfeld begins by proclaiming that “MEN invented the Internet” (those CAPS are his). I came across Streitfeld’s article after a friend suggested I check out tech journalist Xeni Jardin’s Twitter feed. Jardin’sresponse to Streitfeld:

WTF: “MEN invented the internet.” I’m sorry, did NYT just breeze past half a century of women in computer technology?

Herein lies the issue: Though Streitfeld primarily covers Ellen Pao’s lawsuit, he undermines his piece by leading with an emphatic and incorrect statement about men as sole inventors of the Internet. I’m not certain if Streitfeld was being tongue-in-cheek or if he simply has a narrow view of Internet history. But his article does incite, albeit unintentionally, necessary dialogue about the roles women–and racial and ethnic minorities–have played in Internet innovation. While some apparently assume that men alone developed the Internet, a quick glance at the Internet Hall of Fame’s 2012 inaugural inductees and the Early Internet Leaders list prove otherwise. (I also recommend reading History of the Internet).

In reality, the genesis of the Internet was a collaborative effort. It took decades of developments in computer programming and network technology. We can’t let the current cult of tech fandom around “white” men–such as Steve Jobs, whom Streitfeld name checks–obscure the women and the racial and ethnic minorities from around the world who contributed to the birth of the Internet.

Source:

Ms. Magazine

URL:

http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2012/06/04/the-women-and-people-of-color-who-invented-the-internet/

Date:

June 7, 2012

Affiliate:

NYT-“MEN invented the internet”

Teaser:

Xeni Jardin critique's The New York Times' piece on the Ellen Pao/Kleiner Perkins sexual harassment lawsuit, and gender discrimination in Silicon Valley.

Editorial:

From BoingBoing:

What a steaming turd of an opening line in David Streitfeld's otherwise serviceable New York Times piece about the Ellen Pao/Kleiner Perkins sexual harassment lawsuit, and gender discrimination in Silicon Valley.

Here's the opening graf (bold-ing, mine):

MEN invented the Internet. And not just any men. Men with pocket protectors. Men who idolized Mr. Spock and cried when Steve Jobs died. Nerds. Geeks. Give them their due. Without men, we would never know what our friends were doing five minutes ago.

You guys, ladies suck at technology and the New York Times is ON IT.

Radia "Mother of the Internet" Perlman and the ghosts of RADM Grace Hopper, Ada Lovelace and every woman who worked in technology for the past 150 years frown upon you, sir. Women may have been invisible, but the work we did laid the groundwork for more visible advancements now credited to more famous men.

"Men are credited with inventing the internet." There. Fixed it for you.

[...]

Source:

BoingBoing

URL:

http://boingboing.net/2012/06/03/nyt-men-invented-the-inter.html

Date:

June 5, 2012

Affiliate:

Women scientists lose out on research prizes

Teaser:

USA Today reports on a study published in the journal Social Studies of Science that male scientists still receive an outsized number of research awards compared to women.

Editorial:

From USA Today:

Women are nominated for research prizes just as frequently as men, however unconscious bias and men running prize panels seems to be swaying award outcomes, suggests the study in the current Social Studies of Science journal.

Varying widely by discipline, women receiveabout 40% of all doctoratesin science (around 70% of psychology degrees but less in other fields) and engineering (about 10%), and have long suffered from lower odds of becoming full professors or attaining other markers of prestige in those fields.

"A large body of social science research finds that work done by women is perceived as less important or valuable that that done by men," begins the study led by sociologist Anne Lincoln of Southern Methodist University in Dallas. In their research, the study authors looked at award patterns from 13 scientific and medical societies from 1991 (206 awards) to 2010 (296 awards).

[...]

Source:

USA Today

URL:

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2012/03/women-scientists-shafted-on-research-prizes-matilda-effect/1#.T4JY95lDuUo

Date:

April 8, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Study: Privilege not indicator of women's success in STEM fields

Teaser:

Two University of Kansas professors have published a study showing that ability alone simply isn’t enough for women to excel in the STEM fields, and that how far women are from privilege makes a much bigger difference.

Editorial:

From the news release:

Barbara Kerr, Williamson Family Distinguished Professor of Counseling Psychology and Research in Education; and Karen Multon, professor and chair of psychology and research in education, published the study in the Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment. The study examines “distance from privilege,” or the idea that how far young women perceives themselves from ideal socioeconomic, geographic, educational and various other variables can determine how likely they can be to persist in education and careers in the STEM fields. Two methods for measuring where women view themselves in relation to ideal places of power and privilege were also developed.

“We’re trying to understand how to keep young women in college in STEM,” Kerr said. “Once they are in the field, how do we keep them there? We find over and over that women who do persist have had to overcome many barriers.”

The researchers have found that ability alone is not enough to predict whether a young woman will succeed in STEM. It is an important variable, Kerr said, but research should also consider a number of other social variables and take a subjective look at what may stand in the way of success. Developing a tool that can accurately measure distance from privilege can greatly benefit gender equity work and help develop a model for identifying women with the potential to persist in the field.

[...]

Source:

University of Kansas

URL:

http://www.news.ku.edu/2012/march/5/stem.shtml

Date:

April 4, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Mildred Garcia, President, CSU Fullerton

Mildred García, Ed.D., is the incoming president of California State University, Fullerton, and currently serves in that capacity at CSU Dominguez Hills, where she has been since 2007. She is the first Latina president of the CSU system. During her tenure, García has cut costs, boosted enrollment, increased student graduation rates and expanded fundraising. She facilitated the first endowed professorship, the <i>Wallis Annenberg Endowed Professor for Innovation in STEM Education</i>.</p><p>García is a scholar in the field of higher education, and her research and publications have concentrated on equity in higher education and its impact on policy practice.

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Expert Profile

Location:

United States

33° 52' 26.6628" N, 117° 54' 9.486" W

See map: Google Maps

Mildred García, Ed.D., is the incoming president of California State University, Fullerton, and currently serves in that capacity at CSU Dominguez Hills, where she has been since 2007. She is the first Latina president of the CSU system. During her tenure, García has cut costs, boosted enrollment, increased student graduation rates and expanded fundraising. She facilitated the first endowed professorship, the Wallis Annenberg Endowed Professor for Innovation in STEM Education.

García is a scholar in the field of higher education, and her research and publications have concentrated on equity in higher education and its impact on policy practice. She is a much sought-after speaker at national and international conferences, and serves on the boards of many higher education organizations.

Location

Fullerton, CA 92834

United States

33° 52' 26.6628" N, 117° 54' 9.486" W

See map: Google Maps

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Who Are the Next Generation's Leaders in Technology, Science, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)?

Teaser:

In the next five years, STEM jobs are projected to grow twice as quickly as jobs in all other fields according to the U.S. Bureau of Statistics. While all jobs are expected to grow by 10.4 percent, STEM jobs are expected to increase by 21.4 percent. Similarly, 80 percent of jobs in the next decade will require technical skills.

Editorial:

From the Huffington Post:

By this measure, future STEM jobs represent a huge opportunity to today's students. But to put these numbers into perspective, of the 3.8 million ninth graders in the U.S., only 233,000 end up choosing a STEM degree in college, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. This means only 6 percent of ninth graders will become STEM graduates. And of these graduates, women will be even more underrepresented in most STEM fields.

These are alarming statistics. How do we get more young boys and girls to be interested in STEM-related fields? It isn't an easy task. Schools do not always adequately prepare students for these rigorous subjects, and college programs are designed to weed out the less persistent. Nationally, only 41 percent of initial White and Asian American STEM majors who begin a degree in STEM-related fields complete their degree in less than six years.

In addition, societal pressures continue to loom over girls who might otherwise consider the STEM fields. A couple of years ago, I met amazing parents, both of whom had a background in engineering and hoped their 10 year-old daughter would follow in their footsteps. They encouraged her to take an after school science/robotics program. When she got there, she found she was outnumbered 6:1 by boys in the class. As the only girl, she came home crying much of the time because she was teased and told that geeky girls are not welcome in the boys' club. Ironically, by the time young adults are entering college programs in STEM fields, many complain about the lack of gender diversity.

[...]

Source:

Huffington Post

URL:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ivo-lukas/girls-stem_b_1342471.html

Date:

March 14, 2012

Affiliate:

Mixed News for Female Sci-Tech Faculty

Teaser:

For female faculty in scientific or technical fields, a new study has good news, with some caveats.

Editorial:

From LiveScience:

Overall, women in these fields, collectively known as STEM, for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, are staying in these positions at the same rate as men, according to work done by Deborah Kaminski of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Cheryl Geisler of Simon Fraser University.

"This is really good news, it means if we hire them we are going to be able to keep them," Kaminski said in a podcast released by the journal Science, in which the study appears. The two also found that men and women receive promotions at about the same times.

In these fields overall, half of faculty will have departed within 10.9 years of their careers. One discipline bucks the overall trend, however. In mathematics, half of women leave by 4.45 years, and half of male faculty by 7.33 years into their careers, the study found. (A study released this week found that due to the demands of a professorship, many women choose motherhood over academics in math and science fields.)

Source:

LiveScience

URL:

http://www.livescience.com/18517-women-stem-faculty-retention.html

Date:

March 14, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

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