© CSA-IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO.COMNearly every discussion of women in the sciences eventually arrives at the same question: Why, at a time when women are leading countries and multibillion-dollar corporations and are as likely as men to major in science as undergraduates, do we still see so few women pursuing leadership positions in the realm of research?
Today, it’s no longer a question of ability. The days of overt discrimination against women in the sciences have passed. Thankfully, pioneering female scientists like Rosalind Franklin are now recognized for contributions to groundbreaking work, like that which earned her collaborators a Nobel Prize. It would be hard for a graduate student in 2013 to imagine that within living memory are the days when asking a female faculty member to serve on a thesis committee was controversial.
However, an undercurrent of exclusion still exists. From a young age, girls begin to get the message that a life in science is somehow beyond their reach. Female scientists are not immune to that same undercurrent, and the missed opportunities are not limited to women.
The sciences as ...
