In September 2006, the National Academies' report, "Beyond Bias and Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering," revealed some troubling statistics among the employment practices of the country's top research institutions.
It concluded that for more than 30 years, women have made up over 30 percent of the doctorates of the behavioral sciences and 20 percent of the life sciences, yet less than 16 percent of the full professors in social and behavioral sciences are women. About 15 percent of life sciences professorships are held by women. Minority women, meanwhile, were cited as "virtually absent from the nation's leading science and engineering departments."
A committee, chaired by University of Miami President Donna E. Shalala, was subsequently organized to investigate what the obstacles are preventing women in science, engineering and medicine from fulfilling their professional potential, and how those barriers could be eliminated.
Dr. Joan Steitz, the Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, also served on that committee. On March 12, Dr. Steitz spoke at Weill Cornell Medical College about the committee's findings and the state of women in science and engineering at a lecture organized by the Female Association of Clinicians, Educators and Scientists of the Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program.
The overall picture, while improving, is far from satisfactory, Dr. Steitz said.
"Women are paid less, promoted slower, receive few honors and hold fewer leadership positions than men," Dr. Steitz said.
While the committee was quick to disprove that many commonly held beliefs regarding women and science — such as women not excelling in math or female faculty members being less productive than their male counterparts — the more critical function of the group was to make recommendations that would ensure that opportunities for funding, employment and advancement are equally distributed among men and women scientists.
The changes, Dr. Steitz said, must begin at the top, with trustees, university presidents and provosts providing strong leadership in transforming the institutional culture. Deans and department chairs must also expand faculty recruitment efforts.
Outside the institutions themselves, professional societies should push for equity standards and funding agencies must track the composition of their applicant pools and awards.
"All of this is really a call to action," Dr. Steitz said.
But the ultimate goal isn't just to fill the pipeline with qualified women, but nurture those women along their professional paths — exactly as men are — in order to keep them in science, engineering and medicine.
"I think there is hope," Dr Steitz said. "I hope things can change."