COLUMBIA, Mo. ÷ Title IX of the education amendments of 1972 was supposed to bring women equality in higher education. Thirty years after its passage, women are still underrepresented in science and engineering.

"Studies have shown that women have less access to important resources than men," said April Brown, a professor at Duke University during testimony Thursday before a Senate committee.

While women are underrepresented in all the sciences, the most noticeable gap is in engineering. Women earn 53 percent of all bachelor's degrees, but only 20 percent of engineering degrees. At MU, women receive 15 percent of bachelor's degrees in engineering.

Despite continued underrepresentation, Matthew Doster, director of the Engineering Workforce Commission, said Title IX has helped redress the imbalance.

"Over the last 30 or so years, the number of women in engineering has increased substantially," he said.

Allison Salyer, director of Public Policy for the American Association of Engineering Societies, said Title IX has had a huge effect on both enrollment statistics and attitudes.

"Prior to Title IX, it was really frowned upon for women to enter professional fields like law, engineering, medicine," she said.

Since Title IX, Salyer said women experience less overt discrimination but are limited by societal expectations and a lack of exposure to the sciences.

"Having young women understand that careers in science and engineering are an option is important," Salyer said.

Activists and education professionals suggest a complex mix of possible remedies.

Seileach Corleigh, president of the Columbia area National Organization for Women, said guidance and career counselors need to help promote awareness.

"It's not all due to the guidance counselors, but they need to show girls that these fields are open to them," Corleigh said.

Sheryl Tucker, associate professor of chemistry at MU, runs an outreach program for mid-Missouri girl scouts that gives hands-on experience with chemistry. She said this kind of outreach is critical for exposing girls to the sciences.

"All the national studies point to these middle school-aged girls," as being at the critical point when they can lose interest in the sciences, Tucker said.

Salyer said elementary education for girls needs to be improved.

"All children need qualified teachers, teachers who are qualified to teach math and science," she said.

She also supports more public and private partnerships to bring hands-on science into the classroom, and she suggested a more radical proposal.

"We'd like to see (educators) explore the possibility of single-sex classes," she said. "In a single-sex environment, girls have the opportunity to succeed."

Tucker said change isn't likely to come from the government.

"The government can mandate whatever they want," Tucker said. "The reality is, the people who are already there will have to act."

By Aidian Holder
The Maneater (U. Missouri)