The first is from the American Association of University Women. It's called "Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math," and it addresses the challenges facing women and girls engaged in STEM fields.

The report -- an in-depth literature review of hundreds of scientific articles on women in science and engineering -- presents eight recent research findings on the social and environmental factors that lead or contribute to the underrepresentation of women in science and engineering. The report is organized into three areas: the social and environmental factors that contribute to the underrepresentation of girls and women in STEM fields, the climate of science and engineering fields in academia, which includes the ways in which colleges and universities could improve departmental culture to allow for greater inclusion of female faculty, and, lastly, the continuing role of conscious and unconscious bias that affects those pursuing and actively involved in STEM fields.

According to the report, women have earned a higher percentage of doctoral degrees in the past 40 years, a positive change. In 2006, women earned almost one-half of the doctorates in the biological and agricultural sciences; nearly a third of the doctorates in earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences, chemistry, and math; and approximately one-fifth of the doctorates in computer science, engineering and physics.

Unfortunately, in the STEM academic workforce, women are not similarly represented. They make up only 22% of the faculty in the computer and information sciences, 19% of the faculty in math departments, 18% in the physical sciences and 12% in engineering. 

During a panel discussion of the report, the study authors reported that girls are less likely than boys to be confident about their abilities in math and science -- and that lack of confidence can translate to a lower likelihood of entering math and science fields. “Boys think they are better [at mathematical tests] even though they performed the same as girls on the test,” said speaker Shelley Correll, a sociology professor at Stanford.

The authors suggest that parents and teachers teach girls that math and science ability is not fixed. “When a girl believes that she can become smarter and learn what she need to know in STEM subjects -- as opposed to believing that a person is either born with science and math ability or not -- she is more likely to succeed in a STEM field,” write the authors.

However, the authors stress that the issue is not just one of women’s confidence and abilities. “It's about fixing corporations, not just fixing women,” said Correll. Study author Andresse St. Rose encouraged greater inclusion of women at the university level, and an improved climate for women in academia.

On April 27th, the National Girls Collaborative Project will be presenting a webcast of the AAUW research findings, which will include discussion on opening scientific and engineering fields to girls and women. You can register online for the webcast.

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The second report, "Choosing a Career in Science and Technology," is a working paper from the United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and social Research and training centre on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT) in the Netherlands. The author uses a survey of Argentinean high school students to conclude that science and engineering programs suffer from a poor image and are portrayed as difficult and with lower earning potentials. However, students who are inclined towards science, technology and engineering fields believe that jobs will be available to them when they graduate, and that those jobs will come with a good reputation and prestige. The findings suggested that males tend to receive more encouragement toward technical fields than females.

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The Bayer Corporation, an international health-care, nutrition and high-tech materials company based in Pittsburgh, also came out with a report last month. It documents how women and minority chemists and chemical engineers were discouraged from pursuing a STEM career at some point in their lives. "We want to understand the root causes of underrepresentation and the ongoing challenges these groups face," said Bayer CEO Greg Babe.

According to the survey of 1,226 female and minority chemists and chemical engineers drawn from the membership of the American Chemical Society, the top three causes or contributors to underrepresentation are:

• the stereotype that STEM isn’t for girls or minorities,
• the financial issues related to financing education, and
• a lack of quality science and math education programs in poorer school districts.

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Rosa April 15, 2010 160.45.22.98	I wonder if one of the lesser reasons was lack of child care? This is certainly one of the challenges I have experienced. Science is a demanding career - requiring sometimes long hours in the laboratory. This can be taxing when you are the primary caregiver.
Susan April 16, 2010 24.215.135.122	For more on balancing kids and career, read the UtM story 'A Decade of Changes and Opportunities for Women in the Lab', which features an insightful review of the book "Motherhood, the Elephant in the Laboratory".
Darrell April 09, 2011 69.249.40.22	I agree Susan, about the study authors reported that girls are less likely than boys to be confident about their abilities in math and science. That's because we have lower expectations in reguard to math and science for our girls. Darrell Jackson Wireless reader reviews wirelessreaderreviews
Pamela July 16, 2011 63.233.77.106	The problem isn't womens' lack of ability in the sciences or math, it's society's treatment of those of us who do have it. It's years of always being asked, "can you do math" when you set foot into a math classroom to supposedly TEACH it; it's years of everyone you meet everywhere you go being surprised to find out you have a science degree or perhaps a college degree at all and didn't drop out of high school to have out of wedlock babies and live off of AFDC...it's years after graduating with that bachelor's degree people still are surprised that you have one once they see you and you're female and Native American. I wonder if it's the female part or the Choctaw Indian part or both, or more the latter that's my problem. I actually think people see skin color first, gender second, and in my case, that's all she wrote. Denied - treated like a high school dropout slut - not believed - whatever. I am a member of every science and math organization I can find for women and the same for Native Americans and Latinos and it's a toss-up to me as to which of those barriers to employment is the worst one. I walk into public school classrooms and get treated as if there's not even a teacher in the room let alone a "real" math or science teacher. I try to get something other than public school substitute teaching but find that even entry level lab tech grunt work requires either an advanced degree or tons of undergrad work experience in internships and labs just so you can be "verified" and pass reference checks. I can't win. All I ever wanted to do was teach math or science and now all these years later I can't even do that and I think it's more my race than my gender.

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