Science on women in research careers
"The current culture in science...is not attractive to many of either sex, but it appears to push women out at a faster rate than men."
- Nathalie Pettorelli, Liz Else & Seirian Sumner, writing in Science
A group of three women have written a compelling piece in the most recent issue of Science highlighting the perennial problem of the difficulties women face in science careers. Pettorelli and Sumner, research fellows in London, and Else, an editor at the magazine New Scientist, argue that until our culture changes, making it both more acceptable and easier for women to work flexibly and enjoy more egalitarian parental leave allowance, the waste, "sunk costs" and human cost of women leaving the profession will not change.