To the editor:

I wrote my very first "letter to the editor" yesterday on an issue near and dear to my heart. They didn't print it (it was the New York Times, I'm sure they got hundreds), but I can share it with you here:

John Tierney’s critique of the National Academy of Science report “Beyond Bias and Barriers” (column, Sept. 26) demonstrates the very social pressures that he discounts. Tierney complains the authors dismiss the possibility that the imbalance in the number of women pursuing careers in science and engineering is due to innate differences in mathematical ability and interest in abstract theoretical subjects. Data on postsecondary degrees do not support such claims. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2003-2004 women earned 46% of bachelor’s and 28% of PhD degrees awarded in mathematics in the US but only 21% of bachelor’s and 18% of PhD degrees in physics and engineering. Surely Tierney is not arguing that physics and engineering are more mathematical and abstract than mathematics itself.

Social pressures steering women away from science are overt and mainstream. Let’s not forget Mattel’s Barbie that announced “Math class is tough.” As a female nuclear physicist who volunteers her time to encourage young women to pursue science, it dismays me to see Tierney perpetuating bias.