women in science
one dude's take on why there aren't more women in science: Shtetl-Optimized: Nerdify the world, and the women will follow. where do I start with this? ugh. (via uncertain principles)
I'm really pretty offended by his answer to question #3: he asks "should we be trying to entice more women into science?" and says, approximately, 'yes because scientists need wives.' I've been trying to work up an answer to this question for a few weeks now, but sex certainly wasn't the main part of it. What I've come up with (haven't fully articulated this yet):
- more women in science = more opportunities for other women in science
- women sometimes have different priorities and interests than men, which are possibly interesting and would further science in new directions, and
- (those two tied up together) women having a stronger role in science would discourage anti-female bias in the sciences (in terms of, for example, designing studies, designing schedules...)
what those three reasons dig at is that I think women don't avoid science because of the the culture there; I think they avoid it because there isn't a group of people who they would be friends with there. I think a lot of young women (me included) are reluctant to go into an environment where they don't imagine that their coworkers will be sympathetic to them. Personally, I don't want to work somewhere with only one or two other women (neither do I want to work in another mostly-female environment). In my head, I can't imagine being buttoned-up in 10 cubicles with 9 men and myself. The truth is, I have no idea what working in the sciences is like, and most girls (most young people) don't. Maybe girls tend to be more willing to choose the things they know (teaching, etc.) Dunno. Anyways, I'm hoping I will be able to go to work with my roommate (Adam) sometime in August, and see what it's actually like inside at least one (computer-) science company.
anyways. I am going to read a debate that dude recommended: The Science of Gender and Science: Pinker vs. Spelke.
