Why are percentages of women in the mathematical sciences like engineering, physics, chemistry, and computer sciences, much lower than the percentages of men in the same disciplines? Before answering that question, we will try a brief exercise.
Think about a Civil Engineer; what gender comes to mind? Think about an Electrician; what gender comes to mind? Think about the lead Physicist at a lab; what comes to mind? Think about the chairman of the Engineering department; what gender comes to your mind? Invariably, majority of the time, the above mentioned titles connote male figures.
Why? Since males do not possess any advantages over women in the scientific fields, why are there many more enrolled men than enrolled women in these fields? The aforementioned may imply the result has been precipitated by social engineering; systematically steering women away from engineering and natural sciences.
What entity is at the wheel and why steer women away from the mathematical fields? Some majors usually dominated by women are Education, Sociology, Psychology and Women's studies.
Why? Why is a men's studies program conspicuously missing from college programs? The foundational prerequisite for the mathematical and for the science-based fields is mathematics; a subject causing lots of disdain for students; male and female.
If one's mathematical ability is fairly weak by high school graduation, one is more unlikely to select Engineering or to select a science-based field of study in college.
A PHD of Sociology once said to me: "Women, until the recognition of sexuality, generally perform much better academically than males, in ALL fields of study".
So by this point, you are asking yourself, what is the point? Well, in this issue, questions and observations were raised and noted however in the next installment, we will address the reasons why this disparity exists and more importantly, how the disparities can be reduced to a negligible level.
Until then, please ask yourself, why the disparity?