Should there be affirmative action for women in science? Heather Buschman, a science writer for the Consortium for Functional Glycomics, poses that question at the Naturejobs careers advice forum. “Wouldn’t it do more harm than good,” she wonders, “to punish departments or universities if they don’t recruit enough women to science?”
Her post provoked a debate about why women drop out of science career tracks and possible solutions. Heather Etchevers, an embryologist at INSERM in France, says an affirmative action policy need not be punishment. “On the contrary,” she writes, “it could be an opportunity to praise certain policies and highlight them as examples.” And Hilary Spencer, product development manager for Nature Precedings, points to a report suggesting that factors beyond family matters, such as reward systems based on taking big risks, are important in female attrition.
Forum moderator Paul Smaglik notes that the tricky part will be finding ways to level the playing field without diminishing the success of women who have already made the climb unaided.
Also relevant is the review by Ashleigh Griffin of the Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh of the book Women in Science, Engineering and Technology: Three Decades of UK Initiatives by Alison Phipps (Trentham Books: 2008. 184 pp. $16.99, £25.50).
See Nature 454, 827; 2008.
Will the science improve significantly when the gender distribution is changed?
Mark, yes it will.
I did a piece for R4 Woman’s Hour last year about women who work in the technology industry, and they all said that having more women in IT improves the quality of products that companies make because females bring new ways of thinking and problem-solving.
Surely the same applies to science as a whole?
It seems to me that any industry containing a diverse mix of ages, experience, perspective, nationality and indeed gender can only go from strength to strength. The tough questions involve how to achieve that diversity, given that systems are often set up to reward a fairly narrow definition of skills or personnel.
Maxine,
This may be of interest to you. The New York Times published an article last month on how Title IX is now turning its focus to women in science. I have to say, I agree with their opinion. Will correcting the gender differences in science hurt or help the progression of scientific research? Stay tuned…
Thanks, Caryn, in fact the New York Times article forms the basis for the Nature Network post featured here (see link in the post above). I’ve previously added my comments to Heather’s forum thread. I don’t have the same view of the solution proposed, although I certainly agree there is a basic issue to be addressed.
Ahh! I just read your thread quickly. I will look more into Heather’s thread. Thanks Maxine!
I agree that science will improve when scientists reflect the population – there’s lots of research looking at the business benefits of diversity.
I don’t see why affirmative action would in any way negate the successes of earlier female scientists. They have got where they are despite the system, improving the system will surely just point-out how much it needed changing?
I would have no qualms about a department or university or research institute being censured for sexism/ageism/racism/etc