Why The Shortage of Women In Physics?

University of Chicago astrophysicist Evalyn Gates spoke at Cornell recently on this issue.

According to a 2006 National Academy of Sciences report, "it is not lack of talent, but unintentional biases and outmoded institutional structures that are hindering the access and advancement of women."

Gates showed that the percentage of women in physics plummets most dramatically during college for unknown reasons, yet nearly 50 percent of undergraduate math and chemistry majors today are women. There's something different about the field of physics, she said.

"Physics has a unique history in academia," Gates pointed out in an interview after her talk. The largest numbers of physics faculty hires, exclusively men, were made in the 1960s after Sputnik. When this generation began to retire in the 1990s, the percentages of female faculty members went up by only 4 percent. "I'd been hearing since the 1970s that there'd be these mass retirements and then things would change, but they haven't," Gates said.

I've mentioned earlier regarding my effort in the project here at Argonne in getting more female high school students interested in a career in science. I don't know how effective these things are, but it certainly can't hurt to get them to see what can be done, and open up possible career opportunities.

Zz.