生是女儿家，免谈数理化？

By Arun Rath

Arun Rath （Hotst）：
The vast majority of professional scientists， mathematicians and engineers are men. But why？ More young women than ever are pursuing advanced degrees， but there are still very few female professors of physics， math or engineering. We caught up with some young women at UCLA， all good students who had scored well enough in math to get into UCLA， and asked them why they decided not to study science or math in college.

Minerva Prammo：
I was actually really good at science. Before I was an English major， I was a 1）neuroscience major. People were just always， like， asking me， so youre going to be in neuroscience. And I was like， yeah.

Sarah Wally：
My names Sarah Wally（ph）. Part of this is that I dont have much of a background in it， and its really hard to get caught up to people who are really good at it and really have the basics down.

Rath：
Thats Minerva Prammo（ph） and Sarah Wally. Eileen Pollack wrote about why there are so few women in science in an article for The New York Times. In it， she writes about a 2）fascinating and 3）disturbing study that 4）illustrates one challenge women face.

Eileen Pollack：
Jo Handelsman， who is a researcher—shes actually a biologist at Yale—had the sense for years that there was sort of an unconscious gender 5）bias going on that women experience. But she wanted to find hard numbers and actually 6）document this because scientists tend to 7）pride themselves on their 8）objectivity， their 9）rationality. So they didnt believe it in their field. So she came up with an experiment where they basically had made up a job application. And， really， all that was different was on one job application， it seemed to be coming from someone named Jennifer， and on the other from someone named John.

A n d t h e r e s u l t s w e r e 10）astonishing. Jennifer was judged less competent， less 11）hirable and less worthy of 12）mentoring or being encouraged to go on in the field than John， 13）solely on the basis of the name. And it was young women and men in the field doing this， not just the old guys， you know. And I think that was what was 14）startling.

Rath：
Well， speaking of which， I mean， you had， with your own career 15）trajectory， you were one of the first women to earn a science degree from Yale. Youve experienced this sort of stuff. I understand before you got to Yale you had to teach yourself 16）calculus？

Pollack：
Yeah. I know it sounds like I grew up in the， you know， in 17）Paleolithic times， but it really wasnt that long ago. When I was in 7th grade， we were all given an exam， it was science and math， and the boys who did well were skipped ahead so that when they got to be juniors or seniors in high school they would be able to go to the local community college and take calculus and physics there.

And I wasnt skipped ahead. And the 18）principal said， first of all， that girls never go on in science and math so I would just be wasting a seat， but also that it would ruin my social life.

Rath：
So you got yourself your own education. How was it when you got to Yale？

Pollack：
Oh， it was a nightmare because， in fact， I had no idea how far behind I was and went to the first physics class， and there were 118 guys and， I think， two of us women in there. I was beyond lost. And just that discomfort of being the only woman in the room. So every time I would cross or uncross my legs， the lecture would almost stop or I would sense my classmates moving. It was so distracting.

Rath：
Well， its interesting you write about how women who actually attend all-girl schools tend to do better in this way.

Pollack：
I was struck again and again over the years， I was doing interviews and meeting with young women， that if people would say， I dont know what youre talking about， I didnt experience that， my question would be， did you go to an all-girl high school？ And almost always， they would say yes， unless they were from another country， which was the other defense against this.

Rath：
So weve talked about a lot of the factors that served to discourage women from pursuing careers in the sciences. How do you think we can encourage them？

Pollack：
You know， I think women need to hear more encouragement in any field because I see it—I teach creative writing. And even though its mostly women in the room， theyre not often—or they didnt used to be the ones who went on to publish books. I know this sounds like a 19）teratology， but encouragement is the key. Literally saying to， you know， whether to a 12-year-old or an 18-year-old or a 25-year-old， you know， you can do this.

Rath：
Eileen Pollack teaches in the creative writing program at the University of Michigan. Shes working on a book about women in science and engineering. Eileen， thank you.

Pollack：
Thanks so much.

阿伦·拉特（主持人）：这世界上的专业科学家、数学家、工程师里面，绝大部分是男性。这是什么原因呢？虽说越来越多的女孩子已攻入高学历层次，但在物理、数学、工程这些学科里，女教授还是鲜见的。我们今天请来加州大学洛杉矶分校（以下简称UCLA）的几位女学生来一起聊聊这个话题。她们都是数学考高分而被录取进入UCLA的，但为什么大学选科的时候她们都不选数理学科为自己的主修呢？

民诺瓦·普拉姆：我以前理科还是学得挺不错的。在转向主修英语之前，我曾经是神经科学专业的学生。那时候，大家老爱对我说，你以后是要在神经科学这学科一直混下去的吧。我也应声答道，是吧。

莎拉·瓦利：我名叫莎拉·瓦利。之所以不挑数理学科，部分是因为自己基础不好，比起那些擅长数理化，有扎实根基的同学，我觉得自己是很难追赶上来的。拉特：前面听到的是民诺瓦·普拉姆和莎拉·瓦利的心声。艾琳·波拉克为《纽约时报》撰写过一篇文章，分析了理科界少有女生的原因。文章中，她提到一个很有意思但又令人心生不安的研究，揭示了女性所面对的一大挑战。

艾琳·波拉克：乔·汉德尔斯曼是一名研究人员、耶鲁大学的生物学家，多年来她觉得女性在理科世界闯荡时一直存在着某种潜意识的性别偏见。她希望以确凿的数据证明并记录下这一观点，毕竟，科学家最是讲求客观理性的。一开始，她的同行对她的看法不以为然。因此，她想出了一个实验，编造出一份个人简历，然后将其复制生成另一份简历，唯一不同的只是名字，假造出两名求职者，一人名为珍妮弗，一人名为约翰。而结果是惊人的，单单看两人的名字，相比约翰，人们会认为珍妮弗的能力和可雇用度较低，不太值得进一步培养，或者不太值得鼓励往这一领域发展。作出这种判断的正是理科领域里的年轻男女，不仅仅是上了年纪的人是这样想。我觉得那是很令人震惊的。拉特：嗯，说起来，回顾你的事业发展历程，我们知道你是取得耶鲁大学理科学位的最初一批女生之一，这类偏见肯定也是经历过的。听说在入读耶鲁之前，你得自学微积分，是吗？波拉克：是的。我知道，虽然听起来我像个旧石器时代的老古董了，但求学时代其实也不是那么遥远的事情。读七年级的时候，我们所有人都要参加一次数理科目的考试，成绩好的男孩子可以进入快班，所以到了高中二年级三年级的时候，他们轻而易举地便可以升读本地社区大学，修读微积分及物理这些专业。

而我是没考进快班的。校长说，首先，女孩子从来不会在数理化这方面发展的，我要读也是浪费了学位，而且，那会毁掉我的社交生活。

拉特：所以你就选择自学了。那进入耶鲁之后又是怎样呢？

波拉克：噢，那简直就是个噩梦，因为我去上第一堂物理课的时候，根本没想过原来自己程度是那么的差，而且，读这门课程的有118名男生，女生就只有两名。我整个人都懵了。作为绝无仅有的女生坐在那课室里，光是那种感觉就够难受的。所以每次上课，我的腿就不知该怎么放好，翘也不是，不翘也不是，老师的讲课似乎完全停顿了，有时候我会分神感觉同学们的动静。反正就是不能专下心来。

拉特：嗯，很有趣的是，你写到，从女校毕业进入大学的女性在同样情形下反而会表现更加出色。

波拉克：这些年我一次又一次被震撼，当我在做访问调查跟一些青年女性聊起这个话题，如果她们表示，“我不懂你在说什么，我没感觉有那么不安”，那我会问她们高中是不是读女校的，结果几乎都是肯定的，除非她们是来自别的国家，在这问题上那就另当别论了。

拉特：我们谈论过了令女性放弃理科事业发展的好一些因素。那你觉得我们应该怎样鼓励她们反其道而行呢？

波拉特：你知道吧，我认为无论在哪个领域的发展，女性都应该听到更多的鼓励声音，这是我眼见的一个现实。我教的是创意写作这门课，虽然课室里大部分是女生，但最后她们能走到出版作品这一步的不多，或者说一直以来，能成功出版自己作品的不太会是这么些女性。我知道这听起来好像挺怪诞的，但鼓励的确是关键。很直白地说，无论是12岁、18岁还是25岁的女性，我们都要鼓舞她，跟她说，“你是行的”。

拉特：艾琳·波拉克在密歇根大学教授创意写作课程。她正在写一本以女性在理工界打滚为主题的书。艾琳，谢谢你来到我们的节目。

波拉克：非常感谢。