More on Women in Science
In our parochial way, we discuss the number of women in science as if science professors came out of American culture. But, of course, many--if not most--don't. David Donoho, a Stanford statistician, makes an interesting point:
One reason there are so few women in science is very simple -- at least for math sciences and engineering fields -- it has to do with the status of women internationally, not here in the USA.
[*] men from every society on earth are applying in large numbers for graduate schools in the USA.
[*] women not from the US are very much less likely than men from the same country to be applying for graduate schools here in the USA.
[*] in many research universities there is a very small fraction of americans among the applicants.
Here's a concrete example: There are many Iranians in better Electrical Engineering departments nationwide. And Iranians are known to be among the best students of EE. However, very few of these prospective students are women.
I recognize that PRC Chinese women make an exception. In some departments there are as many PRC Chinese women students as Chinese men. That may be partly to do with the fact that it's an only-child society that has gone post-traditional at gunpoint. But I have the impression that there are not nearly as many Singaporean or Taiwanese women as men in US graduate programs. So I don't think that descent from Confucian civilization can be credited with the gender equity of PRC applicants; the only-child hypothesis is a better explanation.
I reach the conclusion that as long as there are traditional societies supplying ambitious young men to science careers, there will be imbalances. Globalization and gender equity are just in conflict.
Actually, globalization and gender equity are not in conflict, over the long run, because globalization works both ways. The most powerful, and frightening to many, idea exported from the United States and other Western country is the equality of women. Aside from its social implications, that ideal has practical economic advantages for societies that adopt it.