http://www.scienceprogress.org/2009/01/benchmarking-foreign-innovation/ Progressive approaches to science policy Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:25:17 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 http://www.scienceprogress.org/2009/01/benchmarking-foreign-innovation/comment-page-1/#comment-4526 Linda Seltzer Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:52:10 +0000 http://www.scienceprogress.org/?p=802#comment-4526 I regret that this report fails to mention the need to recruit women in science and engineering and to assure their retention as they reach more senior levels of experience. There are too many women with Ph.D.s or Master's degrees in science and engineering who are excluded and marginalized after devoting years of effort to obtain an education. This is not due to child raising, because if it were, single women would be breaking through the glass ceiling, and that is not the case. However, there is a work culture that states that productivity comes from working 15 hours day, and which denies the role of a balanced life in the creative process. Our country is in complete denial about discrimination against women, and as long as we follow the philosophy of a complete lack of regulation, we will continue to look at the Management web page of high tech companies and not see any women in a technical leadership role. Not only is there a glass ceiling, but I have personally met women with Ph.D.s in science, as well as women with an M.S. in fields such as engineering, architecture and economics, who do not have a position in their fields. To put it bluntly, there needs to be a way that women with education in science can obtain research positions in our fields, whether the male chauvinists like it or not. One year research positions are not a substitute for stable, long term senior scientist roles. Furthermore, not only do women need to be utilized, we need to be treated with respect on the job. Women on the job are confronted several times per week with situations that no male on the job has to face. There needs to be a study in which the questions are not multiple choice, and in which women can write confidentially and at length about the opposition they have faced in the high technology workforce. The US is not using half of its own talent pool. I regret that this report fails to mention the need to recruit women in science and engineering and to assure their retention as they reach more senior levels of experience. There are too many women with Ph.D.s or Master’s degrees in science and engineering who are excluded and marginalized after devoting years of effort to obtain an education. This is not due to child raising, because if it were, single women would be breaking through the glass ceiling, and that is not the case. However, there is a work culture that states that productivity comes from working 15 hours day, and which denies the role of a balanced life in the creative process. Our country is in complete denial about discrimination against women, and as long as we follow the philosophy of a complete lack of regulation, we will continue to look at the Management web page of high tech companies and not see any women in a technical leadership role. Not only is there a glass ceiling, but I have personally met women with Ph.D.s in science, as well as women with an M.S. in fields such as engineering, architecture and economics, who do not have a position in their fields. To put it bluntly, there needs to be a way that women with education in science can obtain research positions in our fields, whether the male chauvinists like it or not. One year research positions are not a substitute for stable, long term senior scientist roles. Furthermore, not only do women need to be utilized, we need to be treated with respect on the job. Women on the job are confronted several times per week with situations that no male on the job has to face. There needs to be a study in which the questions are not multiple choice, and in which women can write confidentially and at length about the opposition they have faced in the high technology workforce. The US is not using half of its own talent pool.

]]>