It comes as no surprise that women continue to be underrepresented in the “hard” sciences”. Myriad studies continue to attempt to explain the ongoing disparity. Girls are discouraged from feeding their natural enthusiasm for the sciences. Male professors and fellow students are antagonistic. They don’t encourage girls the way they encourage boys. They don’t fit in. And so on. Still other efforts attempt to redress the inequalities, often with mixed results.
Despite the unfortunate environment for women in science, they persist. Case in point: On July 11th, it was announced that three girls swept the first place prizes at Google’s first ever Science fair. Shree Bose, from Fort Worth, Texas, Naomi Shah of Portland, Oregon, and Lauren Hodge of Dallastown, Pennsylvania won the top prizes for their age categories. Dr. Vint Cerf, Google’s chief “Internet evangelist” and one of the judges, said that he was “secretly very pleased to see that happen.” He also noted that all the finalists had “explored science enthusiastically” for a long time and were encouraged by their parents. If only the scientific establishment were so nurturing of girls’ scientific pursuits.
Another nice coincidence was that all three top winners were from the U.S., belying, even a wee bit, that American students are falling behind in science. While more than 10,000 students from 91 countries entered, nearly 60 percent of the entries came from Americans.
This is all good news. BUT, the real challenge will be keeping these girls engaged in science beyond high school. A March 2010 study by published by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) entitled “Why So Few: Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics”, concluded that “many young women graduate from high school with the skills needed to succeed in majors in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, yet college-bound women are less likely than men to pursue majors in those fields.” The report also recommended outreach to high schools and encouraging girls to pursue STEM fields if they have an interest. It further stated that academic departments should put forth an inclusive, gender-neutral message about who would be a good [computer] science student, address peer culture and broaden the scope of early coursework.
With all the gloom and doom predictions regarding lagging U.S. leadership in science and innovation, it seems foolhardy to continue to discourage 50.1% of the population from contributing to these fields. Girls and women ARE interested in science, win Nobel prizes for science, and are clearly able to have careers in science. Why aren’t we doing a better job of supporting them?
