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It’s a complex issue, and one that is a concern to many people in academic science and engineering. The problem seems not to be female aptitude, and it doesn’t really seem to be active discrimination (at least not in major part). It’s not that women aren’t competitive for top-level faculty positions. </p>
<p>A large share of the blame is given to the academic lifestyle – that being a top-level scientist or engineer requires a huge commitment of time and energy, which is not trivially compatible with raising a family. There are many programs starting to be put in place at schools around the country (more on-campus childcare slots for faculty, a one- or two-year break in the tenure clock for faculty members who have children, etc.), but it’s too early to say which of them might be effective at stopping the “leaky pipeline” of women flowing out of academia.</p>
<p>I would think it’s the same in medicine – that more female medical school graduates choose “lifestyle specialties” not because they don’t have the aptitude or the USMLE scores, nor because the good old boys in the department don’t want any dames around to spoil the fun, but because they see life-consuming specialties as incompatible with having a family.</p>