for reminding us why we should care about what women choose for their majors and careers. George Will’s WPost column today about the scarcity of science talent in the U.S. gets at one aspect of the issue I raised in this prior post.

Will’s column slams U.S. immigration policy for sending home many foreign born PhD-earners who could be fueling tech growth in this country. Writes Will: Two-thirds of doctoral candidates in science and engineering in U.S. universities are foreign-born.

Why so few domestic candidates? What Will didn’t point out is that men are far more likely than women to choose a tech major and stick with it through graduate school and a career. If there’s no solution in sight to the boy troubles, which there isn’t, and if women are to continue dominating universities, which DOE projections tell us is the case, then it becomes important to lure more women into science  and engineering and discover what would make careers in science rewarding for them.

Tags: economy, female majors

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