I saw this NY Times title and thought: Yes! I am so excited! When did this happen? How did we all miss it?
Oh, we didn’t….
Today’s story about women in math-based academic fields is clear. While no career is without setbacks and challenges, life in fields like engineering, physics, mathematics and computer science — when viewed by the numbers across the population of academics today rather than through the lens of testimonials and overgeneralized findings — is life with reasonable pay, flexibility to meet family demands, and the chance to make meaningful impacts on the state of knowledge and the next generation of talented young people. Academic science is a rewarding career for many, men and women alike. We are not your father’s academy anymore.
Many are finding the arguments presented in the paper to be flawed. Check out some alternate views from science bloggers Emily Willingham
For the limited percentage of US readers who give a shit, that title probably set all sorts of antennae aflutter. After all, how could anyone with any actual experience in academic science say something like that with a straight face?
and PZ Myers.
Despite total equality, somehow there are still fewer women entering the academic workforce, still fewer getting tenure, women are getting fewer publications, etc. It’s right there in the data they present. Somehow it all vanishes in the analysis, though.
xkcd comic satire of sexism in Mathematics “It’s pi plus C, of course.”