There was an interesting article on NPR this week discussing why there are fewer women in science. I posted this on the Cool Science Dad Facebook Community yesterday. If you haven't joined this community, you should! I post a few shorter parenting and science discussions that I don't post to this blog. But back to the article. The article mentions the stereotype that men are better at science than women. Although this isn't true, women are more likely to think about this stereotype when talking to their male colleagues. This in turn can cause them to appear less competent because their brain power is focused on the stereotype instead of the discussion. Or so the study states.
I'm not sure how much of this is really the case or not, but I can see some truth behind it. When I was a grad student I always wanted to sound smart and competent in front of my PhD adviser. With my focus on sounding competent, I'm sure there were many times when I came across as less than competent for various reasons.
Anyway, this was an interesting article. It is a reminder to all of us that although the number of women entering and remaining in science fields increases every year, there is still much work to do before equality is reached.
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