Careers in Science & Medicine
Keeping Girls
and Women
in the Sciences
Commentary based on a 1998 National Science
Foundation report:
"Women, Minorities,
and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering,"
a 1998 report of the National Science Foundation (NSF), found
that while fourth and eighth grade girls have similar self-perceptions
to boys regarding achievement in science, women earned only
31 percent of the total science and engineering doctoral degrees
in 1995.
"Some groups – women, minorities,
and persons with disabilities – traditionally have not been
fully represented in science and engineering. Although progress
has been made in achievement and participation of some of
these groups, this progress has not been consistent, and full
representation has not been achieved," the report concluded.
Clearly, something keeps these scientifically
curious 13 and 14 year-old girls from pursuing science education
to the same degree as their male counterparts. One may reject
the notion that the onset of adolescence alone is responsible.
A 1994 study found that girls are more likely to take high
school biology than boys (95 percent vs. 92 percent.)
While the NSF report does not address
the use of dissection, science teachers and student advocates
alike affirm that those most likely to seek alternatives to
dissection are girls. Anecdotal evidence suggests that girls
who are forced to dissect – or who experience difficulties
in implementing alternatives to dissection – may reject the
possibility of further study in biology despite any inherent
interest.
The following are testimonies submitted
to the Ethical Science and Education Coalition (ESEC)
from female students in Waquoit, Ludlow, Fall River, Walpole,
Spencer, and Hopkinton, Massachusetts, regarding their experience
with dissection:
- "[Science] used to be my favorite
subject."
- "I never took another class in biology
[after dissection]."
- "I just felt that if I wasn’t involved
in science I wouldn’t have to [dissect].
- "I know I would never [pursue] a
career that required dissection."
- "I was going to school to be a vet
and [in] the 1st class (biology) I had to dissect
a lot of things … in the future I would have [had] to dissect
a cat and that was where I said ‘no way’—I can’t do
this any more."
- "Previously, I’d wanted to be a
veterinarian. Science classes were always my favorite. I
chose not to take a science class my senior year and took
computer science instead of a lab science in college. I
was appalled at the disrespect for life [that was] demonstrated."
Women comprise
51 percent of the U.S. population and 46 percent of the U.S.
work force; however, the NSF report found that women account
for only 22 percent of scientists and engineers
in the work force.
And, according
to the American Medical Association’s Physician Characteristics
and Distribution in the United States, only 22 percent
of physicians in the United States are women.
Passage of Dissection
Choice Legislation in Massachusetts is one more way that
the educational community can recognize and accommodate the
needs of female science students while offering a comparable
foundation in the sciences. This legislation is one more avenue
to encourage the further pursuit of science education by women.
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