Why do women choose non-science fields?

The freedom to say 'no' Why aren't there more women in science and engineering? Controversial new research suggests: They just aren't interested. By Elaine McArdle May 18, 2008 Boston Globe

Women make up almost half of today's workforce, yet hold just a fraction of the jobs in certain high-earning, high-qualification fields. They constitute 20 percent of the nation's engineers, fewer than one-third of chemists, and only about a quarter of computer and math professionals. Over the past decade and more, scores of conferences, studies, andgovernment hearings have been directed at understanding the gap. It has stayed in the media spotlight thanks in part to the high-profile misstep of then-Harvard president Larry Summers, whose loose comment at a Harvard conference on the topic in 2005 ultimately cost him his job. Now two new studies by economists and social scientists have reached a perhaps startling conclusion: An important part of the explanation for the gender gap, they are finding, are the preferences of women themselves. When it comes to certain math- and science-related jobs, substantial numbers of women - highly qualified for the work - stay out of those careers because they would simply rather do something else.

Elaine McArdle is a Cambridge writer. Her first book, "The Migraine Brain,"coauthored with Harvard neurologist Dr. Carolyn Bernstein, will be publishedin September by Free Press.C Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company