SULPHUR

Hermaphodites?

NonHomogenized

I'm a general science major who's seriously considering the physical science option (a physics major is a bit too intimidating for my tastes/sanity). Does that qualify?

Aquila ka Hecate

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Welcome to the brotherhood of physicists!!! Yes, I know it's not very PC but physicists are overwhelmingly from one particular gender and no prize for guessing which!

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Hermaphodites?

Thank you, Sulphur, just what I was thinking.

I know I shouldn't get rattled with asvani-but I do.Typical touchy female aren't I?

And I wouldn't be too sure about the 'overwhelming' part of that statement either, asvani.

Lobstrosity

I don't think asvani is making a fundamental statement as to the competency of women; it seems he's simply making an observation of the current gender distribution of physicists. As an undergraduate I went to a small science and engineering college. There we had the infamous "ratio," which told us that there were approximately pi men for every woman. Needless to say, we men weren't very happy about the ratio. Now, in graduate school, I find the ratio has increased. It seems like there are perhaps ten men for every woman in my physics graduate program. It's not that women aren't as good at physics as men, it's just that they're seemingly less interested in it as a career (probably because of culturally-reinforced gender-role stereotypes). It's definitely something that I'd like to see change, however.

HeatherD

Here is good read on the gender differences as represented in physics careers:

Women in Physics (AIP)

There is a summary at the end that speculates on the reasons for the disparity. Regardless of the reasons, with a greater percentage of women now working on higher degrees compared to men, the ratio in the physical sciences will start to balance.

ElectEngr

Back in 1991, I knew a lady who was working on her PhD in Physics at the University of Texas - Dallas. I never heard if she finally got it or not.

Later,
ElectEngr