Fortune tells us that women have come a long way in business and they show proof by listing the 50 most powerful women.
At the same time though ... concern grows from both men and women, over the unfortunate fact that too few women rise up in Math, Science and Engineering fields.
To find out why … several top US universities looked for legitimate reasons. Why the number gaps in math related areas, with so many gifted women around?
Psychologists, Mary Murphy and Claude Steele showed how the structures of Math, Science and Engineering settings out there - play a major part in causing this gap. Do you see it too? Check out compelling details of their Stanford study.
It turns out … according to research … that women feel threatened to enter … what is typically considered a male dominated world. While it makes sense, I’d like to propose, that according to brain based findings, there is more to it than threat.
First, men and women’s brain differ both biologically and cognitively – and so they do science differently from the way it’s currently structured, even at Stanford. Simply scan the list of 85 most brainy people asked to predict the future – and you’ll see almost no female voices represented, for instance.
Secondly, women are more likely to develop and use smart skills … which include an integrated mix of hard and soft skills and which draw from multiple intelligences that alter more traditionally male structured “scientific approaches.”
What keys would open rich doors to math and science fields in your area? Furthermore … how can men and women … at the same time … expand these fields to include women’s additional ways of knowing? Answers may be already in the mix.
Just look at key questions university faculty and students asked at a conference recently … about better use of human brainpower in today’s workplace. Do you see a case emerging here … with keys to a richer world … where men and women work together to inform a wider math-science population for the benefit of both?
Ellen, this is something I've wondered about for the entire 30 years I've been in the engineering business! Although I see more females in the field now than I used to, there is definitely an overwhelming preponderance of males. This situation was a constant source of woe to me back when I was still single...
Just this week, for instance, I happened to notice that of the 57 people in our last weekly Project Manager's meeting, only 5 were female. Why should that be? I have always believed the female mind has some natural advantages over the male mind for this sort of work.
The thought that engineering is some sort of "male bastion", while it may be true to some extent, shouldn't be a reason to avoid it. Could it be a result and not a cause - or a little of both?
Ironically (and as I've observed to her before), my wife has all the characteristics necessary to make a great PM (multitasking ability, attention to details, people skills, etc.) - except an engineering degree!
Posted by: Robert Hruzek | October 3, 2007 2:11 PM | Permalink to Comment