Excerpt

Twenty-five years ago, Congress passed the Science and Engineering Equal Opportunity Act, which declares it "the policy of the United States that men and women have equal opportunity in education, training, and employment in scientific and technical fields." Major advances have occurred since then in the numbers of women enrolling in science and engineering classes in high school and college, but academic institutions are not fully using the growing pool of women scientists and engineering graduates that these classes have produced.

The nation's ability to use all its scientific talent is vital to its ability to retain technological and economic leadership in an increasingly competitive world. A diverse workforce brings new perspectives and priorities to science and engineering education and research. Removing artificial barriers that prevent scientists from making their optimal contributions therefore has high priority.

Contents

• The National Academies
• Committee on Maximizing the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering
• Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
  • SEX DIFFERENCES IN COGNITIVE ABILITIES
  • GENDER STEREOTYPES AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
  • UNEXAMINED BIAS
  • CAREER TRAJECTORIES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
  • BIAS AGAINST CAREGIVERS
  • INSTITUTIONAL POLICIES
  • ETHNIC AND RACIAL MINORITIES
  • PIONEERS
  • SUMMARY AND SUGGESTIONS
  • NEXT STEPS
• Section 1: Summaries of Convocation Sessions
  • Panel 1: Cognitive and Biological Contributions
    • PANEL SUMMARY
    • GENDER DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES IN ABILITIES
    • SEXUAL DIMORPHISM IN THE DEVELOPING BRAIN
    • ENVIRONMENT-GENETIC INTERACTIONS IN THE ADULT BRAIN: EFFECTS OF STRESS ON LEARNING
    • BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE
    • SELECTIONS FROM THE QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION
  • Panel 2: Social Contributions
    • PANEL SUMMARY
    • IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT GENDER DISCRIMINATION
    • CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES ON PERFORMANCE
    • INTERACTIONS BETWEEN POWER AND GENDER
    • SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING CAREER DECISIONS
    • SELECTIONS FROM THE QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION
  • Panel 3: Organizational Structures
    • PANEL SUMMARY
    • MOVING BEYOND THE “CHILLY CLIMATE” TO A NEW MODEL FOR SPURRING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE
    • ECONOMICS OF GENDERED DISTRIBUTION OF RESOURCES IN ACADEME
    • BIAS AVOIDANCE IN THE ACADEMY: CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES, AND THE VALUE OF POLICIES
    • GENDERED ORGANIZATIONS: SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS IN UNIVERSITIES AND CORPORATIONS
    • SELECTIONS FROM THE QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION
  • Panel 4: Implementing Policies
    • PANEL SUMMARY
    • RECRUITMENT PRACTICES
    • REACHING INTO MINORITY POPULATIONS
    • CREATING AN INCLUSIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT
    • SUCCESSFUL PRACTICES IN INDUSTRY
    • SELECTIONS FROM THE QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION
• Section 2: Selected Workshop Papers
  • The Economics of Gender Differences in Employment Outcomes in Academia
    • The Economic Perspective
    • Data and Methods
    • Gender Differences in Hiring and Promotion
    • Gender Differences in Salaries
    • Conclusions and Policy Recommendations
    • References
  • Biopsychosocial Contributions to Cognitive Performance
    • Biopsychosocial Model
    • Sex Differences in Cognitive Performance
    • Cognitive Process Taxonomy
    • Noncognitive Variables
    • References
  • Women in Science and Mathematics: Gender Similarities in Abilities and Sociocultural Forces
    • Meta-Analysis
    • Gender Differences in Mathematics Performance
    • Gender Differences in Verbal Ability
    • Gender Differences in Spatial Ability
    • Sociocultural Influences on Gender Differences in Mathematical and Spatial Abilities
    • The Gender Similarities Hypothesis
    • Implications: How Can We Close the Gender Gap in Engineering and the Physical Sciences?
    • References
  • Creating an Inclusive Work Environment
    • ADVANCE Institutions
    • Institutional Initiatives
    • Priorities for Institutional Change: Lessons from POWRE
    • References
  • Long Time No See: Why Are There Still So Few Women in Academic Science and Engineering?
    • The ideal-worker schedule
    • Beyond culture and climate metaphors: glass-ceiling and maternal-wall stereotyping
    • Making bias visible in academic workplaces
    • Chilly climate patterns may be evidence of illegal gender discrimination
    • Conclusion
    • References
  • Social Influences on Science and Engineering Career Decisions
    • The “Critical Filter” Hypothesis
    • The Pipeline Paradigm
    • The “Productivity Puzzle”
    • Family Life and Women Scientists’ Careers
    • Summary
    • References
• Section 3: Poster Abstracts
  • Sociology
    • Policy and Praxis: Advancing Women in Higher Education and Influencing Outcomes
    • Successful Academic Women in the Americas: Human and Social Capital Descriptors
    • Science is Foundation for Leadership
    • Work-Family Policies in Academia as Resources or Rewards
    • Case Studies from the Female Engineering Professoriate
  • Organizational Structure
    • The Role of Informal Organizational Structures on Women in the Health Sciences
    • How Do Female and Male Faculty Members Construct Job Satisfaction?
    • A Good Place to Do Science: Creating and Sustaining a Productive, Inclusive Work Environment for Female and Male Scientists
    • An Integrated Coaching and Mentoring Program for University Transformation
    • Up Against the Glass: Gender and Promotion at a Technological University
    • Women in Academic Physics and Astronomy
    • Faculty Horizons: Recruiting a Diverse Faculty
    • Diversity in STEM Disciplines: The Case of Faculty Women of Color
  • Institutional Policy
    • Initiatives to Increase Recruitment, Retention and Advancement of Women in Science and Engineering Disciplines at Kansas State University
    • Effective Practices for STEM Faculty Diversity
    • NSF ADVANCE at the UW-Madison: Three Success Stories
    • Institutional Transformation at Virginia Tech
    • Institutional Transformation at the University of Michigan
    • Scientifically Correct: Speaking to Scientists about Diversity
    • Working to Increase the Success of Women Scientists in Academia
    • Leadership Workshops to Effect Cultural Change
    • ADVANCE: Successful Recruitment of Women to STEM at UCI
• Appendixes
  • A Workshop Agenda
  • B Speaker Biographical Information
  • C Committee Biographical Information
  • D Statement of Task

Support for this project was provided by the National Academies and the National Institutes of Health Office for Research on Women’s Health under contract 1-OD-4-2137, task order 166. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the Councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.