<p>Asherm,</p>
<p>Not to be completely mean, but did you read what I wrote?</p>
<p>I will dig up the more precise information when I find it.</p>
<p>Now, what 46% are you talking about? Last time I checked, only about 15% of engineering students are female. While 46% of MIT students are female, they are, last time I checked, not all engineers and not representative of the general population. </p>
<p>And now…
</p>
<p>There’s NO POLITE response to what I want to say to that. Would you EVER, IN YOUR LIFE, TELL A MAN TO PROVE HIMSELF???</p>
<p>Hell no. Men are presumed competent. But us women, according to you, have to prove ourselves - it’s part of our job.</p>
<p>Maybe women get tired of those attitudes - and leave engineering (I can tell you that’s why I got out of the field - why suffer there when I can make more money as a patent attorney?). </p>
<p>Maybe there’s discrimination at every stage of the process. Someone did an experiment in which identical resumes were sent out to dep’t chairs at engineering schools, asking their opinions of the “candidate.” Resumes with male names were considered to be better. </p>
<p>Maybe it’s because professors are the people who were students about 30 years ago, and there weren’t many women then. </p>
<p>Maybe the tenure system screws any woman who wants a family - only in the past few years have colleges allowed extensions to the tenure track for people who take family leave. </p>
<p>…but noooo, it must be that women aren’t as good. </p>
<p>Are you completely incapable of rational thought, or do you just see fewer women and assume that our maternal instincts override our brainpower?</p>