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INTRODUCTION 1 Introduction It is an unfortunate fact that women have lagged far behind men as participants in the science and engineering workforce. In the last two decades, the gender gap has narrowed dramatically in some fields, but it stubbornly persists. It cannot be explained solely by the variables one might imagine, and at any age women lag behind their male colleagues in career advancement. It appears likely that continued effort will be required to narrow, let alone close, the gender gap. A new study from the National Research Council, From Scarcity toVisibility: Gender Differences in the Career Outcomes of Scientists and Engineers, indicates that the gender gap is most closely related to conditions that slow or interrupt careers, especially those in academia. To the degree that science and engineering are weakened by the loss of many talented people because of gender difference, efforts to improve the careers of women help to maximize the use of the nationâs human resources.
