Just on an anecdote level, I took some physics in undergraduate. To set the scene, I attended a university that has been in the 'Top 10 colleges/universities in the US' for 10+ years.
My professor was a tenured astrophysicist. One time in class he told an anecdote from this days as a graduate student. My professor was in his late 40s, so this was probably 15 - 25 years ago, tops. So, late 80s to early 90s.
He told us that in his astrophysics graduate classes, there was one woman. The rest were men. He told us that he was in awe of how brilliant she was, and how she regularly her work outshone his own. He told us how the primary Big Name Astrophysicist professor, the one who was an adviser to many of the astrophysics students, would pick on her during class.
How that professor would make jokes about women being dumb, about how 'oh, but X is a girl, she wouldn't understand'. About how the professor would encourage the rest of the class to join in as they laughed at this woman. About how the female graduate student would regularly turn in work that was better than my professor's work, but receive grades an entire grade level below his. (ex. He'd receive an A, she'd receive a B or lower).
How she was relentlessly harassed and humiliated by that Big Name Astrophysicist, had her work graded far more harshly than anyone else in the entire program, and how she was held up as an example by that Big Name Astrophysicist of 'why women shouldn't be in science'.
She ended up dropping out of the program. My professor eventually graduated with a PhD and is now tenured at a university that is considered to have one of the world's top programs in Physics.
When our professor told us this anecdote, it was only 3 - 4 minutes out of the class. The one thing that sticks out in particular in my memory was just how sad he sounded. And how he kept saying 'she was smarter than I was' at several points.
So, I'm going to side with nanila on this one. Sure, there are population biases within science. But there are also damn good reasons - from within academic research culture - why it's hard for women to look at scientific research and say 'yes, this is totally a field that I will pursue'.
Women are missing generations of mentors, rolemodels, and simply people who won't say 'you can't do science because you're a woman' because of people like that Big Name Astrophysicist that once taught my college professor.
no subject
My professor was a tenured astrophysicist. One time in class he told an anecdote from this days as a graduate student. My professor was in his late 40s, so this was probably 15 - 25 years ago, tops. So, late 80s to early 90s.
He told us that in his astrophysics graduate classes, there was one woman. The rest were men. He told us that he was in awe of how brilliant she was, and how she regularly her work outshone his own. He told us how the primary Big Name Astrophysicist professor, the one who was an adviser to many of the astrophysics students, would pick on her during class.
How that professor would make jokes about women being dumb, about how 'oh, but X is a girl, she wouldn't understand'. About how the professor would encourage the rest of the class to join in as they laughed at this woman. About how the female graduate student would regularly turn in work that was better than my professor's work, but receive grades an entire grade level below his. (ex. He'd receive an A, she'd receive a B or lower).
How she was relentlessly harassed and humiliated by that Big Name Astrophysicist, had her work graded far more harshly than anyone else in the entire program, and how she was held up as an example by that Big Name Astrophysicist of 'why women shouldn't be in science'.
She ended up dropping out of the program. My professor eventually graduated with a PhD and is now tenured at a university that is considered to have one of the world's top programs in Physics.
When our professor told us this anecdote, it was only 3 - 4 minutes out of the class. The one thing that sticks out in particular in my memory was just how sad he sounded. And how he kept saying 'she was smarter than I was' at several points.
So, I'm going to side with
Women are missing generations of mentors, rolemodels, and simply people who won't say 'you can't do science because you're a woman' because of people like that Big Name Astrophysicist that once taught my college professor.