Grade-school girls ask fewer questions of their science teachers than their boy classmates do. Young women in high school tend to favor social acceptability over scientific proficiency-even though they have the ability for both. Undergraduate women question whether they can balance a career in science with a family. Female graduate students in the hard sciences consider themselves fortunate if they have one woman in their department to serve as a role model or mentor. And postgraduate women scientists wonder if they will ever make department chairperson or dean, since so few women before them have achieved those positions.
![]() TIME TO EXCEL: A Clare Boothe Luce professorship provided Harvey Mudd College's Shenda Baker with money for child care. |
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