Intersection of race, sex, science prompts questions

In 2002, there were no African-American, Hispanic, or Native American women in tenured or tenure-track positions in the top 50 computer science departments in the country.

That lone statistic illustrates that, despite progress made by women in academic science appointments over the past three decades, there is a long way to go, according to Anne Fausto-Sterling, professor of biology and of gender studies at Brown University.

Fausto-Sterling, who delivered an hour-long talk on race, gender, and science Thursday evening (Feb. 15) in the Fairchild Biochemistry Building, wove together statistics, anecdotes, and published firsthand accounts of would-be scientists to explain the problems still facing women interested in science as a career.

Though overt discrimination has declined over time, both female and minority students, she said, still face adverse conditions and discrimination that make it tough to get into science in the first place, tough to stay in, and tough to advance.

Fausto-Sterling's talk, part of the Women, Science, and Society Series sponsored by the Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity and the Harvard Graduate Women in Science and Engineering, drew on published accounts by female students who entered college interested in a science career in which they cited reasons for staying in the field and reasons to switch to another field. The firsthand accounts told of economic pressures for those from lower-income backgrounds, the need to care for family members, discrimination from faculty, and the belief of other students - and in a few cases even of themselves - that they don't belong in the field.