Who’s Afraid of Marie Curie?: The Challenges Facing Women in Science and Technology
In 2005, Larry Summers, former president of Harvard, sparked an outcry when he suggested that women might not be as innately gifted in scientific and mathematical ability as men. Since then, issues related to the lack of women in science and engineering have appeared in the news, but these sound bites tell only part of the story.
Who’s Afraid of Marie Curie? weaves together research and women’s personal stories, presenting both the challenges and triumphs women experience in the sciences. Author Linley Erin Hall has interviewed more than one hundred women, including students of all ages, to uncover what sparked their interest in science, what they’ve experienced in their careers, and, in some cases, why they decided to leave their field. Her findings are that change is happening, but some women are being left behind while others shoot ahead. Written in accessible language rather than scholarly jargon, Who’s Afraid of Marie Curie? explores the complexity behind the sound… More >>
Who’s Afraid of Marie Curie?: The Challenges Facing Women in Science and Technology
Tagged with: Afraid • Challenges • Curie • Facing • Marie • Science • Technology • Who's • Women
Linley Erin Hall has a scientist’s approach to the issues involved in the scarcity of women in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology fields. She should, having been a chemistry major at Harvey Mudd College before she became a writer. Hall interviewed many women, those who stayed in the field and those who left, and their experiences and hers enliven her presentation of evidence from data collections on what women experience at every level once they express interest in science. She deals with events from elementary education on, and does not hesitate to ask the “Summers question” about whether mathematical ability of men really exceeds that of women. Her evidence is extensive, but she never browbeats the reader with it or launches into polemic, instead she explains the data clearly, illustrates it with cogent examples written engagingly, and provides the reader with her current conclusions. It’s a thorough and refreshingly readable review of the situation facing those who want to make the situation for women in science better in the future. You’ll finish the book with a clear understanding of the evidence, with some memorable things in mind that happened to real women, and with Hall’s vision of the better possible future.
Larry Summers’ outrageous comments in 2005 about the low representation of women in Science being innate led to a controversy, but the comment still stands – does it have any basis in fact? “Who’s Afraid of Marie Curie? The Challenges Facing Women in Science and Technology” is a through examination of women in all fields of science at all levels. Doubling as both as a discussion and an encouragement to young women with an interest in the fields, “Who’s Afraid of Marie Curie?: The Challenges Facing Women in Science and Technology” is deftly written all around and deserves places on both science and women’s studies shelves, and should be picked up as a motivator for women who are contemplating science as a career.