Women in Science: Career Processes and Outcomes - Tapa blanda

Do young women take fewer mathematics and science courses in high school than young men, leaving them less prepared and therefore less likely to major in science and engineering fields in college? Is a woman with a bachelor's degree in science and engineering more likely to have begun her college career as a science major, or on a non-science track? This book, ten years in the making, offers definitive and surprising answers to these and other long-standing questions about women in science. -- Abigail J. Stewart and Danielle LaVaque-Manty Nature 20040115 Sociologists Xie and Shauman have prepared this detailed and scholarly study of the career paths of women in science, remarkable for the comprehensive scope of its contents as well as the detail and precision of its findings...It is the most carefully argued and well-documented investigation of both the gender differences in science and the reason women leave science presently available--an important and praiseworthy contribution. -- M. H. Chaplin Choice 20040201 Xie and Shauman's volume Women in Science is a source of rich and detailed empirical analyses that take a bold and justified leap beyond the pipeline model, challenging assumptions and revealing complex processes. The findings and perspective of this study also frame areas for further research. -- Mary Frank Fox Contemporary Sociology Yu Xie and Kimberlee Shauman explore why so few women opt for a science career. They debunk plenty of myths. New Scientist 20060107

Why do so few women choose a career in science--even as they move into medicine and law in ever-greater numbers? In one of the most comprehensive studies of gender differences in science careers ever conducted, Women in Science provides a systematic account of how U.S. youth are selected into and out of science education in early life, and how social forces affect career outcomes later in the science labor market. Studying the science career trajectory in its entirety, the authors attend to the causal influences of prior experiences on career outcomes as well as the interactions of multiple life domains such as career and family. While attesting to the progress of women in science, the book also reveals continuing gender differences in mathematics and science education and in the progress and outcomes of scientists' careers. The authors explore the extent and causes of gender differences in undergraduate and graduate science education, in scientists' geographic mobility, in research productivity, in promotion rates and earnings, and in the experience of immigrant scientists. They conclude that the gender gap in parenting responsibilities is a critical barrier to the further advancement of women in science.