Inspiring Women To Pursue Science: A Job That Should Begin At Home

An April 1989 report from the National Science Foundation's Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering tells us that, in 1983, when women represented more than 50 percent of all undergraduates in United States colleges and universities, they earned only 30 percent or 116,000 of all the science and engineering bachelor's degrees awarded. The report also tells us that in 1985 women received only 198 or 6.7 percent of the 2,967 engineering doctorates handed out in the U.S. Such statistics clearly underscore the woeful underparticipation of women in science and engineering. There are several reasons we should be concerned about this situation. First, this underparticipation which stems from a lack of encouragement and confidence in the study of science and engineering prevents their involvement in the formulation of national and local science policies and decisions affecting our country's future. It is especially unfortunate when they are prevented from providing leadership and perspective to science-based discussions and decisions that have particular implications for women. We should also be concerned for economic reasons. Women constitute more than 50 percent of our population and 44 percent of our workforce. By the year 2000, they along with members of various minority groups are expected to constitute 85 to 90 percent of new workers. Because our economy is increasingly based on technology, workers are going to need the kind of higher-level skills that science and engineering study provides. Workers must be able to reason, to communicate, and to use quantitative methods effectively. What we are producing instead, by our failing to encourage women and minorities to study mathematics and science, is a steady increase in the proportion of our citizens who lack the essential skills for success in the workplace. What does it take for anyone male or female to become a scientist or engineer? First, and above all curiosity. The potential scientist or engineer must be excited by learning new things; he or she must be willing to take intellectual risks, recognizing that there are important lessons to be learned when things don't go as planned; the would-be scientist must be confident about his or her ability to do academic work, and must have the discipline to meet the time requirements and constraints of a demanding field. A woman who aspires to be a scientist or engineer must be given the same opportunities that men, by and large, traditionally enjoy. That is, she must have the opportunity to live and learn, especially in the precollege years, in an environment that fosters and encourages curiosity and creativity; she must be exposed to science through a variety of means, including informal science education activities, early hands-on experience, and interactions with practicing scientists. For a young woman, it is especially helpful when these mentors are women who can serve as role models. At the precollege and college levels, she must be able to acquire a strong academic background in a supportive environment that will enable her to think, to analyze, to reason abstractly, to frame and to solve problems, and to communicate effectively. She must understand, through close interactions and research opportunities with faculty, what is involved in being a scientist or engineer. At the graduate level, she needs to have the opportunity early on to join a research group, one that is led by a caring and supportive leader who will be concerned not only about her meeting the academic standards and other degree requirements, but also about her professional development. She should have frequent opportunities to have her work critiqued by her peers and faculty as well as to attend and to present papers at meetings, thus enabling her to become part of the professional network in her field of specialization. I should not neglect to mention here that women students as well as men must have adequate and continuous financial support. Women should receive equitable treatment in the award of fellowships and research assistantships. Curiosity, about which I wrote earlier, must be nurtured at home as well as in school. Unfortunately, parents and teachers of girls and young women too often have not provided opportunities for their daughters and female students to develop their early interests in science and mathematics. There is frequently a tendency to protect them, which often ends up fueling self-doubt and curtailing their willingness to take intellectual risks. Minority girls may face additional barriers especially if they are from low-income families. unable to participate in enriching out-of-school activities because of lack of information about such opportunities or lack of resources. Absent such experiences, it may be especially difficult for them to develop and pursue intellectual interests in depth. Living in poverty frequently quells youngsters' excitement about learning as survival becomes the main focus. From my perspective, girls need to have their successful experiences with science and mathematics acknowledged and reinforced by their teachers and parents. They should be encouraged to ask questions, to express their ideas, and to think critically about their own or others' thoughts and points of view on a range of issues, including those that are science-oriented. Teachers and parents sometimes fail to recognize the extent of their influence on youngsters and should do more to encourage and support girls in the study of science and mathematics and to participate in enriching, after-school experiences that complement the regular science and mathematics education curriculum. Studies show that gender differences in mathematics achievement begin to appear at the middle school level and in science as early as the elementary school level. In high school, females take fewer years of mathematics and science and are not as likely to be enrolled in advanced courses in these subjects as are males. These developments strongly suggest that we need to intervene as early as age nine for science and age 13 for mathematics to ensure that girls do not lose their earlier interests in these areas. Minority youth, including minority girls, frequently face the additional barrier of being placed in remedial mathematics courses, thereby reducing their chances of enrolling in advanced mathematics and science courses. Girls and minority males are frequently not expected to be interested in or to be capable of understanding physical and mathematical concepts. Their questions often are not taken seriously, and they are frequently asked easier questions because it is assumed that they cannot handle more difficult ones. These two factors low expectations by significant others and the lack of early successful and reinforced experiences in mathematics and science do more, in my view, to prevent girls and young women (as well as minority males) from developing and pursuing interests in quantitative fields than other factors. Without the self-confidence that results from a supportive learning environment, it is unlikely that large numbers of girls will be attracted to and remain in science and engineering fields. Shirley McBay, a mathematician by training, is president of Quality Education For Minorities Network in Washington, D.C., and chair of the NSF's Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering.

Inspiring Women To Pursue Science: A Job That Should Begin At Home

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