Re: How To Recruit Women to Tech and IT Classes

[Hugh Haskell <hhaskell@MINDSPRING.COM>]

Jim Green said (among other things):

> This thread seems to have assumed that enticing a woman to become a
> physicist is a step up.  That of course is nonsense.

You can, of course, assert that the statement is nonsense and we are
free to disagree or agree as we see fit, but it is quite presumptuous
of you to add the "of course" to your condemnation. That the
assertion is nonsense is by no means a given.

> Motherhood is the
> most rewarding and beneficial avenue a woman can pursue.  Those that can
> are truly lucky.

It's interesting that almost everyone I ever hear say that is a man.
In many contexts that phrase is code for keeping women in their
place. I know lots of women who would not share your view of their
supposed "highest calling."

And of course the "highest calling" for a man is to go out in the
world, be the breadwinner and protect the little mother back home as
she peels grapes from her position on the pedestal.

> Let me go way out on a limb and say that I think it would be a rare woman
> who would trade her children for as much as a Nobel Prize in physics.  And
> be pretty unfortunate to do so.

I'll take a stab at sawing off that limb. I suggest you read Sharon
McGrayne's book, "Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives,
Stgruggles and Momentous Discoveries" (Secaucus, NJ: Carol, 1998) for
several stories of women who did just that, not all in physics but
certainly in science. They didn't think they were unfortunate, and I
think they are the only ones whose opinions count.

Hugh
--

Hugh Haskell
<mailto://hhaskell@mindspring.com>

Let's face it. People use a Mac because they want to, Windows because they
have to..
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