Amid the fierce battles between Senate Democrats and Republicans over filibustering, John Bolton, and Social Security, a remarkable yet largely overlooked event occurred on Capitol Hill: two U.S. Senators, one from each side of the aisle, managed to agree on something.

This increasingly rare example of bipartisanship occurred on May 11, when a petition signed by more than 6,000 scientists, engineers, and professors was presented to Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). The petition implores Congress to find out why women are not entering careers in math and science at the same rate as men and to make efforts to grow the representation of women in these fields.

"Now is the time to use every tool available to make sure America reaps the benefits of the best possible workforce of scientists and engineers,” Sen. Wyden said after the presentation. “Equal opportunity in math and science will benefit not just the women who enter the professions, but all Americans through our technological leadership and our national security.”

Sen. Allen added, “We cannot afford to cut out half of our population, the female population, as we recruit our best and brightest students for engineering and science studies and careers.”

I was euphoric that a Democrat and a Republican in Congress were actually in synch. But the fact that the issue was women in math and science made me even happier.

As a long-time advocate of women’s education, I shared the widespread disappointment in Harvard University President Lawrence Summers’ comments earlier this year that innate differences were the reason why there were fewer women than men in science. I began to wonder if we have not progressed from a time when nursing, teaching, and secretarial work were thought to be the only suitable careers for women.

Then, Summers’ words began to have a wonderful and unexpected impact. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) announced this month that it had elected 19 women as new members, the most women ever elected in one year. The Chronicle of Higher Education suggested that the NAS election results might have been influenced by Summers’ remarks. The Summers controversy may have also helped generate the enthusiastic response of thousands of individuals to the petition drive.

Yet, this encouraging news is tempered by some troubling research in higher education.  The New York Times recently reported that while the number of women earning medical degrees and doctorates in science has increased, science and engineering faculties at colleges and universities remain overwhelmingly male. The Nelson Diversity Survey found that women occupy only 15 percent of faculty positions in these fields at the top 50 research institutions. Data from the National Science Foundation revealed that 77 percent of the employed doctoral scientists are men and only 23 percent are women.

At the undergraduate level, according to a report from the U.S. General Accounting Office, women study science to a much lesser extent than men, even though women now make up the majority of college students. Those who do major in the sciences face a myriad of obstacles, including hostility from male students, a dearth of research opportunities, and perhaps most importantly, a lack of preparation and mentoring, particularly from women role models.

Fortunately, we have a resource at hand to help eliminate these barriers. In the setting of an all-women’s college, women are encouraged to believe they can do anything, including math and science. At Hollins University, for example, students majoring in these fields are taught by an outstanding faculty that just happens to be made up largely of women. They are inspired by collaborating with their professors on a wide range of research projects.

The supportive learning environment and the leadership focus that Hollins and other women’s colleges provide help women build confidence in themselves. These attributes prepare them to take on new challenges throughout their lives – even in the traditionally male-dominated fields of math and science.  

I celebrate the petition drive and the NAS elections as a promising beginning in preparing more women scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. But if we are to truly further the progress of women in these fields, we must find more ways to empower these women. I fervently hope that women’s colleges will be recognized as the vanguard in this endeavor.

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