Lawrence H. Summers resigned from Harvard in 2006 after publicly stating that women lack the innate abilities in math and science that men possess. This MIT- and Harvard-educated economist reinforced a prevalent and unfortunate belief among teenage girls that boys 'get' science and girls don't, which explains why girls take a back seat to boys in school.
Just As Smart, Yet Not as Successful
The yawning gender gap in math and science shouldn't exist. Research indicates females are just as competent as males when given the same opportunities and encouragement. Yet around the time of adolescence, girls deliberately dumb down.
In higher education, the gap not only continues but becomes self-perpetuating as few women apply and are selected for positions in teaching and research institutions. Without role models and positive images of success, female graduate students are reluctant to enter an academic setting. Because the road to tenure coincides with the childbearing years, juggling the two seems virtually impossible.
Women in Science: The Untold Stories
For every Lawrence Summers you hear about, there's a handful of women scientists and educators who don't grab mainstream media headlines, but are enhancing the profile of women in science one discovery at a time. They're extraordinary researchers who also bring their intellect to bear on two of the biggest issues facing women: how to keep girls and young women engaged in science, and how to achieve balance between family and career.
A Microbiologist Mother, Successful at Both
Having a fulfilling career in science while raising a family isn't impossible. But it is hard work, according to Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, a world-renowned research scientist in the field of molecular biology.A native of the island of Tasmania in Australia, she was the second of seven children raised by two practicing physicians. After earning her B.S. and M.S. from the University of Melbourne, she went on to England's Cambridge University and completed her Ph.D. in Microbiology, writing a doctoral thesis on sequencing of nucleic acids – DNA and RNA.
Postdoctoral research at Yale University enabled her to begin focusing on an area which would bring her international acclaim - the study of chromosomes, their structures and replication, and the phenomenon of telomeres, the tiny structures that cap the ends of chromosomes and which contribute to the stability of all the genes in cells.
An Influential Woman
Today Dr. Blackburn is the Morris Herzstein Professor of Biology and Physiology in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco. Her extensive list of awards includes honors bestowed by Eli Lilly, the National Academy of Science, the American Cancer Society, Bristol Myers-Squibb, the American Society of Cell Biology, and the American Association for Cancer Research.
In 2007, she was named by TIME magazine to "The TIME 100 (100 Most Influential People in the World)” and was selected as the North American Laureate of the L’ORÉAL-UNESCO Award For Women in Science for her work in creating a better understanding of stress as a cause leading to cell aging and the diseases of old age, including cancer.
Making Motherhood a Priority
She is as dedicated to her responsibilities as a scientist and teacher as she is to her commitments as a wife and mother. In fact, she takes motherhood very seriously and has written about the right of every woman to choose a career without fear of discrimination for embracing motherhood. Like the seasoned researcher that she is, she's developed a pragmatic and practical approach to the family/career balancing act, honing it over the course of several decades of experience.
For Dr. Blackburn, it's not a matter of black-and-white either/or decision-making, but a gradual recognition of the cyclical nature of work and family and a redistribution of time between the two over the course of a professional life. And the best affirmation of her success in achieving work/home balance is a moment in time she refers to as the most memorable week of her life, when at age 37 she became a full professor at UC Berkeley at the same time she learned she was pregnant.
A Conversation With Dr. Blackburn
Dr. Blackburn sat down for a phone interview with me to share her thoughts on the math and science gender divide, the need for our society to nurture and support teachers, the family/career juggling act, and the best ways to encourage and inspire girls and young women to consider science as a field of study and then later as a profession.
We're all born young scientists and learn about the world around us through inquiry and experimentation. Yet at some point, although boys continue to question, most girls shut down. Why do you think this is so, and why didn't this happen to you?
It's socialization that changes girls. Girls find that to express these interests is not so socially acceptable. A young person grows up and is uncertain, does not get positive reinforcement. The influence of peers is really different for girls. I see the consequences in my students and postdoctoral graduates. If doing science is perceived as an uncool thing for a girl - in high school during a very vulnerable time in her life -she won't perform as well and she won't do as well as teenage boys. I don't think female abilities are less than those of males; we've seen ample evidence around the world. If they're encouraged to do as well, they do. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I attended an all-girls school through high school, and a college where there were residences for women. It was helpful to live in a community of women scholars - very helpful to have the example of women undergrads around you. As the beneficiary of single-sex education myself, I can see why it's helpful. During certain stages, when a young girl is growing up and getting her feet on the ground, it can be very beneficial.
