The discrimination young researchers endure makes America’s need for STEM workers even greater. When Joan was an undergraduate, in the 1970s, she asked her boyfriend why one of his roommates was finishing up a Ph.D. while another, in the same department, still had several years left. “Barbara’s rigid,” her boyfriend said. His other roommate, Karen,…

Hearing a woman’s voice come over the intercom before takeoff, “this is your captain speaking,” can be a moving experience, even today: She made it! She beat the odds! A stirring sense of admiration as you check that your seatbelt is indeed securely fastened for takeoff. But women who work in roles traditionally held by…

When the first reporter called me up with the news that Netflix had announced a year’s parental leave, I was thrilled. Researchers generally conclude that that’s close to the ideal amount of maternity leave (40 weeks). The twelve weeks provided by the Family and Medical Leave Act is clearly too short. A 2005 study found…