Bias called persistent hurdle for women in sciences

A report on the underrepresentation of women in science and math by the American Association of University Women, to be released today, found that although women have made gains, stereotypes and cultural biases still impede their success.

The report, "Why So Few?" supported by the National Science Foundation, examined decades of research to gather recommendations for drawing more women into science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the so-called STEM fields.

"We scanned the literature for research with immediate applicability," said Catherine Hill, the university women's research director and lead author. "We found a lot of small things can make a difference, like a course in spatial skills for women going into engineering, or teaching children that math ability is not fixed, but grows with effort."

The report treads lightly on the hot-button question of whether innate differences between the sexes account for the paucity of women at the highest levels of science and math. The association's report acknowledges differences in male and female brains. But, Hill said, "none of the research convincingly links those differences to specific skills, so we don't know what they mean in terms of mathematical abilities."

The report found ample evidence of continuing cultural bias. One study of postdoctoral applicants, for example, found that women had to publish three more papers in prestigious journals, or 20 more in less-known publications, to be judged as productive as male applicants.

The university women's report cited research showing girls' performance suffers from any suggestion they do poorly at math. In one experiment, college students with strong math backgrounds and similar abilities were divided into two groups and tested on math. One group was told that men perform better on the test, the other that there was no difference in performance between the sexes. In the group told men do better, men indeed did much better, with an average score of 25 to the women's 5. In the group told there was no difference, women scored 17 and men 19.

Teaching girls about how stereotypes affect performance, the report found, can diminish such effects.