Introduction

Abstract

In 1975, Harriet Zuckerman and Jonathan R. Cole,¹ two authors who have published extensively about women scientists, listed a number of widely held beliefs or perceptions about the historic treatment of women in science and reviewed the existing literature as a foundation for their study of patterns of discrimination. The list of perceptions, derived from a number of surveys and not necessarily endorsed by the authors, can be summarized as follows:

• Women are neither fit for scientific careers nor interested in them.

• Women are discriminated against in admission to graduate school.

• Women are poor risks as graduate students; if they acquire advanced degrees, they then marry, have children, and leave science.

• Women are less likely to have received training at the most distinguished universities.

• Women are less productive scientists than men.

• Women scientists do not receive rewards commensurate with the quality of their work.

• Women receive less informal recognition from colleagues for the quality of their work.

• Women suffer the consequences of accumulative disadvantages during their entire careers.

• Social conditions that have impeded career progress for women in science have not changed materially in the past fifty to seventy-five years.

Optimistic hypotheses about the improving status of women in science; commonly held beliefs about women scientists; a plan for examining the current state of affairs.