The Gender Gap: Women in Science

As an undergraduate student at Loyola, it is hard to imagine that women are not involved in science. There sheer number of female students in science classes largely overwhelms the small minority of men. However, Loyola University Chicago is a rare and special case. Women in science, even in 2014, are still lagging behind men. The question becomes why are there so few females in the science field.

Eileen Pollack explains in her article, “Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science?” that there is a bias against women in the science field. A recent study performed at Yale showed that the discrimination. Handelsman and Corrine Moss-Racusin sent out 127 identical resumes for a lab manager job, with one exception. Half the resumes were from a student named “John”, while the other half were from a student named “Jennifer.” Then, each faculty member was asked to rate the applicant “in terms of competence, hireability, likeability, and the extent to which the professor might be wiling to mentor the student.” They were also asked what they would pay the student if they received the position. The results were astounding. John was rated higher in all of the categories except for likability. Also, John would have made approximately $4,000 more than Jennifer if he was hired.

The staggering results show us that there is a “subconscious institutional bias.” Many professors just value a male over a female and think he deserves a higher salary. However, the startling part came when the researchers realized that female professors were just as likely to hire a male than a female. The researchers at Yale believed that these results reflected this bias that is just subconscious and most people do not think about it.

 Lise Eliot in her book, Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow into Troublesome Gaps—and What We Can Do About It, also explains this strange phenomenon. Males are regarded more highly in terms of education than women in the media. For example, a study done by Camilla Benbow and Julian Stanley in found that more males scored higher than females on the math SAT. Newsweek magazine took the study and declared that men are naturally better at math than women because of a “math gene.” These statements by the media produce a culture in which females are seen as the lesser gender when it comes to math and science. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that the Yale study, as mentioned above, dealt with professors subconsciously choosing a male applicant over a female applicant.  

Overall, there needs to be a drastic upheaval of cultural stigmas regarding women in math. They are just as capable and educated as a male would be. Just ask one of the numerous hard-working female science majors at Loyola University Chicago.

Works Cited

Eliot, Lise. Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow into Troublesome Gaps--and What We Can Do about It. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Print.

Pollack, Eileen. "Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science?" The New York Times 6 Oct. 2013: n. pag. The New York Times. 3 Oct. 2013. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.