Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Apr 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002aps..apr.e7001u&link_type=abstract
American Physical Society, April Meeting, Jointly Sponsored with the High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) of the American As
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Scientific paper
For twenty years, scientists and society alike have averred that discrimination against women is a thing of the past, which may be largely true for the most overt kind of discrimination. Yet judging from the scarcity of women in the physical sciences in the U.S. today, it is clear that these professions efficiently filter out women (and probably other minorities). Not only are women present in much smaller numbers than men at all levels, their presence decreases with increasing rank in the academic hierarchy, and women advance more slowly and with greater attrition than men. Notably, the pre-college pipeline is no longer the critical issue, since women are present in large numbers in introductory science and math classes at top undergraduate institutions. However, there is little agreement on what the critical problem might be, much less its solution. Furthermore, most physical scientists in academia, which is to say male full professors, have paid relatively little attention to this problem and are not well informed about the current status of women in their fields or the extensive research on gender bias. I review the relevant statistics and some of this research. I conclude that progress is possible if people in positions of power adopt the inclusion of women as a priority. This will enhance excellence in our profession, both because it taps a wider pool of talent and because it corrects the bias that has (under the assumption of equal distribution of talent among men and women) excluded some of our best scientists.
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