Women in Science and Engineering:

In March 2002, the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) held the first international conference on Women in Physics, devoted to understanding the reasons for the under-representation of women in physics worldwide, particularly at the more senior levels.

Are you aware of how many women physicists have contributed to the field of physics?

Also see,

Association for Women in Science
International List of Women in Physics Organizations and Contacts
Association for Women in Science and Engineering-Committee on Status of Women in Physics

GIRLS, TECHNOLOGY AND ONLINE CONTENT

American Association of University Women
Devoted to promoting equity and education for all women and girls. Has published several landmark studies on how young girls are subtly steered away from academic success, including success in math and science. Site gives summaries of the studies and information on how to order copies by mail or phone.

Committee on the Status of Women in Computer Science and Engineering
Their goal is to take positive action to increase the number of women participating in Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) research and education at all levels.

GirlTech
GirlTech is an award-wining site with over 400 pages of fun, educational content. Featuring games, an advice column, weekly diary, women role models, science projects, invention, sports, and a boys’ area designed to encourage communication and understanding between girls and boys.

Purple Moon
Safe, highly interactive and entertaining place for girls to have their very own “Friendship Adventures” online. Characters such as Rockett take you on scavenger hunts, let you write stories, vote on new ideas, as well as teach girls to create their own web pages.

Girls Incorporated
National youth organization dedicated to helping every girl become strong, smart, and bold. Girls Inc. has given
vital educational programs to millions of American girls for more than 50 years. Current programs with Girls Inc. are aimed at helping girls confront subtle societal stereotypes about their value and potential, and aim to prepare them to lead successful, independent lives.

WOMEN IN THE COMPUTER INDUSTRY

International Network of Women in Technology (WITI)
This association of women working in high-tech fields has a web page that includes membership information, text of the federal Glass Ceiling report on women and minorities in corporate management, and a list of other online resources for women in the technology field.

The Center for Women and Information Technology
The Center for Women and Information Technology web site offers extensive news of women and IT; announcements; links to women-related web sites focusing on Science/Technology, on Internet Information, and on resources for girls; information about women-related email lists in Science/Technology; and a vast collection of web-based syllabi for women- and gender-related courses, including courses focusing on women and science/technology. A recent Wired Women column on ABCNews.com called site “the best resource on women and technology on the Web.”

LIFE SCIENCE

WOMEN IN SCIENCE – CASE STUDIES

Dr. Vicky Taylor, a post-doctoral endocrinologist, met an eight-year-old girl in a primary school. “I asked her, ‘What do you think about science?’ and she said straight out, ‘Men are scientists’,” recalls Taylor . “‘But I’m a scientist,’ I said — and that totally changed her perception.” Dr. Taylor is taking part in a scheme that pays researchers at Imperial College London to spend half their time teaching in local schools. INSPIRE (Innovative Scheme for Post-docs in Research and Education), now halfway through its trial period, is a response to fears that science teaching in the United Kingdom is in crisis. For more details, visit
http://www.nature.com/news/2004/040712/full/430286a.html.