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THE OUTLOOK
WOMEN
Am/
SCIENCE
Bulletin No. 223-1
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
WOMEN’S BUREAU
7
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
L. B. SCHWELLENBACH, SECRETARY
WOMEN’S BUREAU
FRIEDA S. MILLER, DIRECTOR
Outlook
tn
Science
Bulletin of the Women’s Bureau No. 223—1
for Women
U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1949
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government
Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C. Price 20 cents
This bulletin is No. 223-1 in the following series on
THE OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN SCIENCE
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
223—1
223-2
223-3
223-4
223-5
223—'6
223-7
The Outlook for Women in Science
The Outlook for Women in Chemistry
The Outlook for Women in the Biological Sciences
The Outlook for Women in Mathematics and Statistics
The Outlook for Women in Architecture and Engineering
The Outlook for Women in Physics and Astronomy
The Outlook for Women in Geology, Geography, and Me
teorology
No. 223-8 The Outlook for Women in Occupations Related to Science
Note on Pagination.—Throughout the series, page numbers show both the vol
ume number and the page number in that volume. For example, page 24 in volume
3 is shown as 3-24; in volume (3, as 6-24.
1-11
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
United States Department of Labor,
Womens Bureau,
Washington, December 38, 194.7.
: I have the honor of transmitting this introduction to a series
of bulletins on the outlook for women in science. The extraordinary
demand for women with scientific training during World War II and
the resulting questions which came to the Women’s Bureau prompted
us to undertake this study. The paucity of published information on
women in science and the encouragement of the scientists and edu
cators who were consulted in the course of this study confirmed the
need for the information here assembled and synthesized. The study
was planned and directed by Marguerite Wykoff Zapoleon and com
pleted with the assistance of Elsie Katcher Goodman and Mary H.
Brilla of the Employment Opportunities Section of the Bureau’s Re
search Division. Other members of the Bureau staff who helped to
broaden the coverage of this study through interviews in the field
were regional representatives Margaret Kay Anderson, Martha J.
Ziegler, Rebecca G. Smaltz, and another member of the research staff,
Jennie Mohr. Corinne LaBarre, Research Assistant, of the Western
Personnel Institute, Pasadena, Calif., furnished the information ob
tained from western colleges.
The part of the study here transmitted was written by Marguerite
Wykoff Zapoleon with the assistance of Mildred Dougherty and Elsie
Katcher Goodman.
Respectfully submitted.
Frieda S. Miller, Director.
Hon. L. B. Schwellenbach,
Secretary of Labor.
Sir
1-111
FOREWORD
Much has been written about science and scientists, but little has
been told about the work women trained in science have done and can
do in the future.
Although these women are few in number when compared to men in
science or to women in such occupations as teaching and nursing, their
contribution to the national welfare, so strikingly demonstrated in
World War II, goes forward daily in the laboratories, classrooms,
offices, and plants in which they work.
The every-day story of where these women work, of what kind of
work they are doing, and of what other young women who join their
ranks in the future may do has been the subject of this report on the
outlook for women in science. Unlike the usual monograph which
describes an occupation in detail at a particular point in time, this
study, like the Women’s Bureau series on occupations in the medical
and health services which preceded it, is concerned primarily with
changes and trends.
Although more than 800 books, articles, or pamphlets were culled
for background information, the principal raw material for the entire
study of which this bulletin is a part came from such primary sources
as scientific organizations, employers and trainers of women scientists,
and men and women scientists themselves. Principal sources were as
follows:
Scientific organizations: The National Research Council
supplied useful directories of scientific laboratories and organ
izations. Helpful criticism and direction to other authorities
were obtained from its Office of Scientific Personnel. Sixty
separate organizations of scientists supplied information on
their women members, by interview or correspondence.
Federal agencies: Unpublished information on personnel in scien
tific fields was supplied by:
The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics,
The National Roster of Scientific and Specialized
Personnel,
The United States Office of Education,
The United States Civil Service Commission, and
The United States Public Health Service.
In addition, 52 separate bureaus, offices, or other operating
units of the Federal Government known to employ scientists
were solicited for information regarding the number of women
1-V
FOREWORD
employed on jobs requiring scientific training and the type of
work they were doing. Detailed statistics over a period of
years were available from some agencies, while only fragmen
tary data were obtained from others. The women’s military
services likewise supplied information on the wartime use of
women trained in science in the WAC, WAVES, and the Marine
Corps.
Private industry: One hundred industrial firms were visited in
1945 and 1946 to obtain information, usually by interview with
the director of research or the personnel director, on the women
employed by any part of the organization in any capacity re
quiring scientific training of college level. Prewar, wartime,
and postwar statistics were obtained where available, as well as
suggestions and comments. In many instances, some of the
women in scientific work were interviewed on the job. The firms
visited included:
Seventy-eight firms listed in the National Research Council’s
1946 directory of 2,443 firms having research laboratories.
The firms visited are listed in the directory as employing
24,816 persons as scientific or technical personnel in their
laboratories. This number represented 28 percent of the
total personnel of this type estimated as employed in all the
laboratories listed. In addition to this numerical coverage,
an attempt was made to include among the 78 firms visited
small as well as large firms, plants in all parts of the United
States, and a variety of industries. However, the intricate
industrial organization, inter-relationships, and variety of
research revealed in the directory, added to the fact that
some firms did not report personnel statistics and none re
ported women separately, made the selection of a true
sample complicated beyond its value for this purpose. The
firms visited were chosen rather as a clue to industrial firms
most likely to be engaged in the type of work in which
women trained in science are used. In all firms, informa
tion was requested for the entire organization rather than
for the research laboratory only.
Eighteen commercial laboratories which offer testing services
to industry and individuals and which employed women
were also visited. Seven others contacted did not employ
women. These 25 laboratories represented 10 percent of the
244 commercial testing laboratories listed in tlnj National
Bureau of Standards’ 1942 Directory of Commercial Test
ing and College Research Laboratories. Since personnel
FOREWORD
1-VII
is not reported in the Directory, there is no clue to the cov
erage of workers.
Three large additional industrial firms which employed
women in laboratory work but were not listed as having
research laboratories were visited, as was one biological
supply house.
Research institutions: Eight research institutions or centers, some
of them identified with a particular college or university, also
supplied information on women members of the scientific staff.
Colleges and universities: Statistical information on the num
ber of women graduated with degrees in science, mathematics'
and engineering over a period of years from 1939-40 to 1946
was obtained from 30 colleges and universities and from 9 en
gineering schools. Again an attempt was made to obtain wide
geographical coverage and to cover different types of insti
tutions, such as women’s colleges, State universities, and small
liberal arts colleges. The information available from these
sources, too, varied. .Placement bureaus and heads of science
departments as well as deans of women at these institutions
and at 6 other colleges contributed reports on the demand for
women trained in the sciences. The Western Personnel Insti
tute made possible the inclusion of data which it collected for
the Bureau from its affiliated colleges and universities in the
far West. Since no recent data were available on the number
of women teaching science in the colleges, a count was made in
1947 of the women identifiable by name who were listed on
science faculties in the catalogs of 330 institutions of higher
learning which were then available in the United States Office
of Education Library. These institutions were selected be
cause they are believed by the United States Office of Educa
tion to be representative in their enrollments of the 1,749
institutions of higher education in the United States and,
therefore, are likely to have faculties equally representative.
Other sources: In addition, 97 individuals not included in the
afore-mentioned sources, most of them women scientists, con
tributed information, suggestions, or helpful criticisms of the
preliminary manuscripts circulated before revision for publi
cation.
While every effort has been made to obtain wide coverage, there re
main some dark corners still unexplored because of the range and
variety of these fields and the difficulty of obtaining information from
widely scattered sources. Perhaps this beginning will result in fur
ther additions to our so-little knowledge.
792277°—49----- 2
Courtesy U. S. Department of Agriculture
Figure 1.—A chemist studying the stability of insecticidal emulsions.
1-VIII
CONTENTS
Page
Letter of transmittal
Foreword__________________
Employment in the sciences
Employment of women in various scientific fields.___________ ______
The type of work women in science do
1—8
The work environment in scientific employment.- _
_ ________
Types of employers of women in science______ - - ___ _____________
The supply of scientific personnel— _ _ -----------------------------------------------Training and supply 1-25
Effect of World War II on the supply ____________________________
Potential supply 1-28
Financial aid_____________
Encouragement in high schools
Earnings and supply_______________________________________________
Organizations of scientific personnel
The demand for scientific personnel___________________________________
In private industry____
In government 1—41
In educational institutions______________________________________
Supporting factors in demand 1-43
The outlook for women in each of the principal scientific fields___
____
Outlook for women in chemistry 1-46
Outlook for women in the biologicalsciences__________________________
Outlook for women in mathematics and statistics 1-48
Outlook for women in engineering 1-48
Outlook for women in architecture 1-49
Outlook for women in physics-_______________________________________
Outlook for women in geology 1-50
Outlook for women in geography 1-50
Outlook for women in astronomy_____________________________ _______
Outlook for women in meteorology
Variations in the outlook for women in science
Geographic variations in the outlook
Variations for w'ornen with special employment problems_____________
Older women 1-54
Married women________________________________________
Negro women 1-58
Women with physical handicaps
Suggestions to girls and women interested in scientific work 1-63
Exploration and choice 1-63
Preparation 1-66
Obtaining employment____________________________
Hurdles
Satisfaction and success
Sources to which reference is made in the text
1-IX
1-m
1—v
1-1
1-4
1-11
1-14
1-25
1-26
1-29
1-31
1—34
1-37
1—39
1-39
1-42
1-46
1-47
1-49
1-50
1-51
1-52
1-52
1-54
1-56
1-61
1-69
1-70
1-74
1-X
CONTENTS
Tables:
Page
1. Estimated number and percent distribution of men and women in
principal scientific fields in the United States, 1946-47______________
1-5
2. Women college graduates employed in 68 industrial firms with research
laboratories and in 11 commercial testing laboratories, by type of
scientific work, 1945-46;_______
3. Women on science faculties in 1,573 institutions of higher education
in the United States, December 1942
1-20
4. Women on science faculties in institutions of higher education in the
United States, by principal scientific field, 1946_
1_20
5. Professional scientific men and women in Federal agencies engaged in
research, by scientific field, 1947
1_22
6. Women college graduates employed in 50 units of the Federal Govern
ment, by type of scientific work, 1946
1-22
7. Distribution of women listed in American Men of Science, by scientific
field, 1944
1_64
Charts:
1. Men and women in principal scientific fields in the United States
1946-47____________________________________ ______________________
1_(5
2. Women in principal scientific fields in the United States, 1946-47_____
1-7
Illustrations:
1. Chemist studying the stability of insecticidal emulsions1-vin
2. Developing relative viscosity measurements 1-xi
3. Observing uni-celled animals in radioactive phosphorous solution____ 1-xn
4. Biochemist studying Warburg apparatus
1-3
5. Physicist engaged in research on radio and electronic tubes__________
1-9
6. Scientific aid determining breaking strength of cotton sample________
1—10
7. Entomologist identifying a new and strange insect 1-12
8. Physicist takes humidity reading in specially equipped room_________ 1-15
9. Analyzing gasses taken off metal in industrial research laboratory____ 1-17
10. Technical illustrator draws physicist’s idea for new instrument_______ 1-19
11. Assistant professor supervises injection made by student_____________ 1-21
12. Public health worker searching for malaria parasites in blood sample___ 1 -23
13. An engineering student in the chemistry laboratory_________________
1-28
14. A 1943 Science Talent Search winner assisting in cancer research____
1-32
15. Biologist studying effect of radiation on mammals 1-35
16. Laboratory technician at work in industrial research laboratory______ 1-40
17. Entomologist checking infection of mosquitoes___ ___________________ 1-41
18. Physicist at the control console of the chain-reacting pile____________
1-45
19. Chemist running DDT sample into microdispenser tube 1-47
20. Meteorologist making computations for weather forecasters’ use_____
1-51
21. Medical laboratory technicians at work in a hospital 1-53
22. Woman scientist who is also a homemaker 1-56
23. First woman and first Negro to receive geology doctorate at Catholic
University. 1-59
24. Microscope reveals new wTorld to high school biology student________
1-63
25. Electrical engineering student explores industrial work 1-67
26. Geology students on field trip in Utah 1-69
27. Textile research chemist prepares to mount treated cotton sample___
1-71
Index 1-77
*«£*!«
MBMBMi
b
Courtesy Mellon Institute
Figure 2.—Developing relative viscosity measurements on a project in
physiochemical research.
1-XI
Courtesy U. S. Atomic Energy Commission
Figure 3.—Technicians trained in biology or biochemistry observing
behavior of uni-celled animals in radioactive phosphorus solution at
one of the laboratories of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission.
1 -XII
THE OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN
IN SCIENCE
EMPLOYMENT IN THE SCIENCES
The role of women in the sciences has been a minor one. A year or
more after the close of World War II, with its extraordinary demand
for scientifically trained women, less than 3 percent of the non
medical personnel in the sciences in the United States were women.
Yet, the contributions of this small group have many times been de
clared “essential,” and exceptional women scientists have won inter
national renown.
The importance of the sciences to individual and national welfare
and the rarity of creative scientific talent suggest the questions: Is
our Nation finding and developing all its potentially great scientists?
Is it developing and utilizing without waste the services of other
scientifically trained persons to whom the creative group supplies the
inspiration and leadership?
.
Both the legislative and the executive branches of Government have
recognized the vital nature of these questions, as the proposed National
Science Foundation and the recent report of the chairman of the
President’s Scientific Research Board indicate (4$) (£5). The Wom
en’s Bureau believes that, although women will probably never equal
the number of men in scientific fields, they can and will play an in
creasingly greater role, quantitatively and qualitatively, in the sciences.
For this, certain changes in actions, both on the part of women them
selves and on the part of those who employ and train scientists, are
necessary. The Bureau presents this factual report as a basis for its
belief and as its initial contribution both to the increasing number of
women who want to train for scientific work and to those who are
concerned with the present and potential use of a relatively unmined
source of scientific talent.
The report deals primarily with the outlook for women in the physi
cal and biological sciences and in mathematics. The applied fields of
engineering and architecture have also been included. The social
sciences, which require a different combination of talents and training,
1-1
1-2
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
and the fields of medicine and dentistry (which have been the subjects
of earlier reports of the Bureau) have been omitted.
The boundary in depth of this study has also been somewhat arbi
trarily set. Should only those who have taken a Ph. D. or a Sc. D.
in science and continue to be actively engaged in scientific work be
counted as “scientists?” Should all who are actively employed in
such work be included even though their academic training is more
limited, for example, to a bachelor’s degree with a science major? As
the discussions of particular sciences in other parts of this series indi
cate, the lines drawn in the various scientific fields are by no means
well-defined as to level. In mathematics, particularly, there are some
who consider the Ph. D. essential for the classification of “mathemati
cian,” whereas others would include all those who have an under
graduate major in mathematics and are actively engaged in mathe
matical work or the teaching of mathematics. In physiology and
astronomy the lines are clearer—those without the doctorate, who
are not candidates for it, do not usually call themselves physiologists
or astronomers. On the other hand, among engineers a doctor’s degree
is rare. In chemistry, many have the doctorate, but it is possible to
become a chemist through experience with only the bachelor’s degree
and, in very unusual instances, even without a college degree. Where
there are conflicting points of view, an attempt has been made in the
separate bulletins to give statistics on both the exclusive and themore inclusive groups. Generally, however, the bachelor’s degree
with a major in a science, mathematics, engineering or architecture,
or its equivalent has been the minimum level for this study. With a
few exceptions, only incidental information is included on women with
less training in science.
.
Even with these arbitrary boundaries drawn, the current picture
of women in science is necessarily befogged by the difficulty of obtain
ing separate statistics on their number and their functions, and be
cause of the intermeshing of the sciences which makes classification
difficult. These inter-relationships are evident in such titles as: astro
physicist, geobotanist, biochemist, biophysicist, and chemical engineer.
They are present also, though not so obviously indicated in the titles,
in such occupations as those of the mineralogist, paleontologist, and
oceanographer.
The story of how the sciences have at once “differentiated” and
“hybridized” is a long and fascinating one that begins in ancient
times (£8). As one scientist says, “The boundaries between all sciences
are arbitrary and man-made, and it is impossible to say how much one
borrows from another.” Any grouping, therefore, is not only arbi
trary, but, to some extent, inexact. For this reason, broad categories
EMPLOYMENT
1-3
have been used here. The difficulties of even these classifications are
reflected in the variations in offerings in science in colleges and uni
versities. One school will offer a bachelor’s degree with a major in
biology; another, for very similar work, will offer a degree with a
major in botany or zoology but not in biology. Major work in geology
may be offered in a separate geology department, or in combination
with geography, or as a paid of earth sciences. The bacteriology
department, like that of physiology, may be located in a school of
medicine, a school of agriculture, or in a school of arts and Sciences
where it may be distinct or included in a department of biology.
ssm
mm
fci®
Courtesy U. S. Atomic Energy Commission
Figure 4.—A biochemist studying Warburg apparatus.
Classification is also complicated by the fact that many individuals
qualify as specialists in more than one field. A scientist following a
problem approached from one field may end up in the same branch
reached by another who has approached the problem from a different
specialty. A chemist and a physiologist, for example, may ultimately
both work in biochemistry and qualify as biochemists as well as in
their original fields. A physiologist, in discussing his own profession,
recently wrote “ * * * there are independent parallel classificaI ions of workers according to training, according to organism or organ
792277’—40----- 3
1-4
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
studied, and according to purpose or viewpoint * * * most
* * * [physiologists] have equal rights to at least two or three
professional labels—occasionally even a fourth if they earn their 1 iving
by teaching courses with titles not directly reflecting their research
interests” (9).
Employment of Women in Various Scientific Fields
The totals as well as the separate estimates of the number of men
and women in the scientific fields as shown in table 1 must be inter
preted with these difficulties of boundaries and classifications in mind.
The source of each estimate indicates its nature and its limitations.
I he relatively small role women play in the sciences is at once evi
dent, amounting to less than 3 percent of the total. Granted that
table 1 presents minimum estimates in 1947, probably less than 15,000
women were engaged in professional work in the sciences as here
defined, as compared with some half a million men. If engineering
which occupies two-thirds of the men in these fields is excluded,
women still comprise only 7 percent of the total in all the other fields'
Among scientists trained at the graduate level including engineers
with Ph. D.’s, women form about 5 percent of the total, according to
the Office of Scientific Personnel of the National Research Council.
The proportion women are of the total employed in certain sciences,
however, is much greater than their ratio in others. (See table 1 and
chart I.) In bacteriology, they form one-fourth of the total; in
mathematics and in general botany and in general biology, approxi
mately one-fifth. In geography, astronomy, physiology, general
zoology, and pathology, they comprise between one-tenth and onefifth. On the other hand, in engineering, in the agricultural plant
sciences and animal husbandry, and in meteorology, they total 1
percent or less.
However, the largest scientific fields for women in terms of the
actual number employed are: Chemistry, which employs 42’ percent
of all the women in science; mathematics, which employs 16 percent;
and bacteriology, engineering, and physics, each of which employ
7 to 8 percent. (See chart II.) For men, on the other hand, engi neering is overwhelmingly predominant, while chemistry ranks second.
(See chart I.) Physics, architecture, and geology fall next in order.
Each of these fields as well as mathematics and the agricultural
plant sciences employ more men than the number of women employed
iu the largest scientific field for women, that of chemistry.
EMPLOYMENT
1-5
Table L—Estimated Number and Percent Distribution of Men and Women in Prin
cipal Scientific Fields in the United States, 1946-47
Note.—These estimates are derived from a variety of sources and should be interpreted with caution. (See
sources of estimates below and discussion in text on difficulties of classification and variations in training
levels.) The totals are for the sciences listed and do not include all those whose work or training includes
science. Medicine is the largest of the groups omitted.
Number
Percent
Scientific field
Total
Men
Women
All fields listed below _ _ _ ___
477, 890
465,130
12, 760
Architecture C_. _ _________
Astronomy 2 _____
Bacteriology1 2
3
Biology, general4 (exclusive of
bacteriology, botany, zoology)_
_
Botanical Science:
General botany *
Plant physiology and pathologyJ ------------ ----- ------------Agricultural plant sciences4 6
including forestry
Chemistry ®
Engineering7 -------------------------Geography8. --------------------------Geology 9 _* ----------- ----------- ----Mathematics 4 (exclusive of statistics)
Meteorology 40--------- ------------------Physics 11. _----------------- ----------Zoological Science:
General zoology 4
Physiology4 ----------------- ...
Pathology4 ..
Animal husbandry 4...
15,000
600
4, 000
14, 700
500
3,000
300
100
1,000
3,200
2,600
1,100
850
1,050
980
7, 850
77,000
317,000
800
11,000
7,820
71,600
316, 050
660
10,670
10,200
2, 800
18,450
3, 900
900
650
2,390
Total
Men
Women
100.0
100.0
100.0
Percent
women
are of
total
2.7
3.14
.12
.84
3.16
.11
.65
2.35
.78
7.84
600
.67
.56
4.70
18.8
250
.23
.18
1.96
22.7
70
.22
.21
.55
6.7
30
5,400
950
140
330
1.64
16.11
66. 33
. 17
2. 30
1.68
15.39
67. 95
.14
2.29
.23
42.32
7.45
1.10
2.59
.4
7.0
.3
17.5
3.0
8,150
2, 770
17, 550
2,050
30
900
2.13
.59
3.86
1.75
.60
3. 77
16.07
.23
7.05
20.1
1.1
4.9
3,470
790
590
2, 380
430
.82
.19
.14
.50
.75
.17
.13
.51
3. 37
.86
.47
.08
11.0
12.2
9.2
.4
no
60
10
2.0
16.6
25.0
1 Estimate of registered architects in 1947 by Department of Education and Research, American Inst itute
of Architects. This does not include landscape architects. The percentage of women is estimated at twice
their 1 percent proportion in the American Institute of Architects and less than their 2.3 percent in the
1940 Census figures in which landscape architects were included.
,
2 American Astronomical Society 1946 membership.
3 Estimate based on 1947 membership of Society of American Bacteriologists, which exceeded 3,000 and
which includes more experienced group.
4 National Roster of Scientific and Specialized Personnel, Registrants, Dec. 31, 1946 (88). These are
minimum figures, as indicated by a comparison with table 4, p. 1-20.
6 Rounded estimate of number available in 1946 made by a committee of the Botanical Society of America
(6). Proportion of women based on distribution of membership in the Society in 1945 and of National Roster
registration.
0 Estimate of the total obtained by adding the 9,360 Ph. D.’s in chemistry active in 1947 according to the
National Research Council’s Office of Scientific Personnel to the 18,720 master’s and 48,672 bachelor’s in
chemistry, estimated by applying a ratio of 2 master’s to 1 Ph. D. and 5.2 bachelor’s to 1 Ph. D. (These
are the ratios among scientists in industrial research laboratories, according to the same source.) The
percentage of the total who are women is estimated at 7 percent, slightly higher than the 6 percent ratio found
in 1946 in a 10 percent sample count of the 48,000 members of the American Chemical Society in which
the ratio of women is probably lower than among nonmembers.
7 Estimate of total for March 1946 as given in Engineers Joint Council survey report. Proportion of
women based on 1940 Census distribution (34).
8 1946 Census of Professional Geographers by Division of Geology and Geography of National Research
Council.
8 Estimate of the Geological Society of America, 1946.
40 American Meteorological Association membership, 1947.
71 Estimate of the total obtained by adding the 2,250 Ph. D.’s in physics active in 1947 according to the
National Research Council’s Office of Scientific Personnel to the 4,500 master’s and 11,700 bachelor’s in
physics, estimated by applying a ratio of 2 master’s to 1 Ph. D. and 5.2 bachelor’s to 1 Ph. D. (These are
the ratios among scientists in industrial research laboratories, according to the same source.)
1-6
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
Chart I.—Men and Women in Principal Scientific Fields in the United
States, 1946-47.
NUMBER IN THOUSANDS
ENGINEERING
CHEMISTRY
PHYSICS
ARCHITECTURE
GEOLOGY
MATHEMATICS
BOTANICAL
SCIENCES
ZOOLOGICAL
SCIENCES
BACTERIOLOGY
* WOMEN TOO FEW TO PLOT
GENERAL
BIOLOGY
METEOROLOGY
GEOGRAPHY
ASTRONOMY
SOURCES: SEE SOURCES FOR TABLE I. PRINCIPALLY PROFESSIONAL
ORGANIZATIONS AND THE NATIONAL ROSTER OF
SCIENTIFIC AND SPECIALIZED PERSONNEL
EMPLOYMENT
1-7
Chart II.—Women in Principal Scientific Fields in the United States,
1946-47.
NUMBER IN THOUSANDS
CHEMISTRY
MATHEMATICS
BACTERIOLOGY
ENGINEERING
PHYSICS
ZOOLOGICAL
SCIENCES
GENERAL
BIOLOGY
BOTANICAL
SCIENCESGEOLOGY
ARCHITECTURE
GEOGRAPHY
ASTRONOMY
METEOROLOGY
SOURCES: SEE SOURCES FOR TABLE I. PRINCIPALLY PROFESSIONAL
ORGANIZATIONS AND THE NATIONAL ROSTER OF
SCIENTIFIC AND SPECIALIZED PERSONNEL
1-8
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
The Type of Work Women in Science Do
The variety of occupations in which women college graduates who
have majored in science are engaged is described in more detail in
the separate bulletins in this series. They range from the simplest
type of routine laboratory work to the most difficult type of research
work, for which the doctorate usually represents only a beginning.
They may include the teaching of high school science or a professorship
in a large university.
Although the boundaries here, too, are not clear cut, and there is
interchange and overlapping between the groups, certain principal
types of work have been differentiated. In scientific research, for
example, three major groups may be distinguished—the pure or
basic scientists, those engaged in applied research and development,
and those who do background research (44) ■
Pioneering at the outskirts of our knowledge are the pure or re
search scientists who seek to extend the frontiers of what is known,
often regardless of the immediate, practical value of the additional
territory. They are for the most part employed in university and
research institution laboratories where basic rather than applied
research is emphasized. Marie Curie was one of the few women who
have won international renown in pure scientific research (5).
In applied research and development, a larger group of scientists
develop new uses and new products through the application of known
scientific principles. They are employed primarily by industry and
Government. A third group of scientists engaged in background
research provide essential data for both the pure and applied scientists
by their systematic observation, recording, and organization of facts
useful as a foundation or point of reference for further research.
Government, industry, and universities employ scientists of this type.
Besides these three classes of research scientists, another group of
persons trained in the sciences work in industrial plants, hospitals,
and other operating establishments applying scientific knowledge to
existing processes, materials, or products to insure their adequacy or
to test their composition or qualities. Among these are plant or
operating engineers, control chemists, and medical laboratory tech
nicians. Another very large group are primarily teachers of science
in colleges and universities. Others are teaching in high school,
although most high-school teachers of science have majored in educa
tion rather than in science. Another group is engaged in such related
occupations as patent work, technical library work, or in scientific
writing, editing, or illustrating.
Obviously, the boundaries between all these types of scientific en
deavor are set by the inclination, ability, training, and opportunity
EMPLOYMENT
1-9
Courtesy U. S. Bureau of Standards
Figure 5.—A physicist engaged in developmental research on the design
and internal characteristics of radio and electronic tubes.
of the individual rather than by an arbitrary limitation of function.
The control chemist or the plant engineer may experiment in the
development of a new product or a new process. Similarly, an ap
plied research chemist may hit upon a new chemical element or a
new scientific principle. But the opportunity and the equipment
available for pioneer exploration favor the pure scientist, who usually
lias a doctor’s degree. The doctorate is also necessary for advance
ment in college teaching. In control work, on the other hand, the
bachelor’s degree is more usual.
These different types of scientific work are found in each of the
sciences, although in some sciences the number working in one type
may be proportionately larger than that in another. Among those
engaged in astronomy, for example, pure research, background re
search, and teaching predominate; in chemistry, engineering, and
geology, on the other hand, applied research, actual processing and
control work, and related occupations engage a higher proportion of
the total personnel. These differences in each field and the varying
participation of women in them are brought out in the other bulletins
in this series.
1-10
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
Below the general level of the college graduate who lias specialized
in science are the scientific aids in Government and the nongrad
uate laboratory assistants or technicians in industry who assist
scientists in their work. Such workers, mentioned only incidentally
in this study, have been steadily growing in number with the growth
of specialization. Before the war, this work was usually performed
by a man or woman who had taken some science in college, or in high
Courtesy U. S. Department of Agriculture
Figure 6.—A scientific aid determining the breaking strength of a
cotton sample.
EMPLOYMENT
1-11
school, or who, lacking any scientific training, had by accident, interest,
or personal relationship obtained an unskilled job in a laboratory and
had learned to perform more skilled procedures on the job. During
periods of oversupply, persons with more training sometimes took such
jobs in order to obtain a foothold in a laboratory. Others, with partial
training, took them in order to finance the completion of their college
work at night. Some were graduates of private technical schools.
The engineering-aid training programs and the engineering
drafting programs for women sponsored during the war by a number
of industrial corporations as well as the special training programs
of the Federal Government added some thousands of specially
trained women aids of this type at a critical time.
The need for some women trained at this level for subprofessional
technical jobs will continue, but its volume will be relatively small
in relation to the demand for men technicians and in relation to the
demand for women with more training in science. However, a com
mittee on vocational technical training appointed by the United
States Commissioner of Education in a 1944 report, suggesting that
programs to produce technicians be expanded, recommended that
training for such occupations be made available to women students
as well as to men (J$). In Philadelphia, in 1947, 2-year courses
of this nature in industrial chemistry and in architectural drafting
were being offered in the public vocational school program to women
as well as to men high-school graduates. In the bulletin on archi
tecture and engineering in this series, the work of women engineering
aids and draftsmen has been described. Otherwise, only incidental
mention of this semiprofessional group appears in this report.
The Work Environment in Scientific Employment
The environment in which a scientist, man or woman, works
varies both with the type of work he does and also with the type
of employer he has. The science professor working in a university
obviously spends time in the classroom as well as in the laboratory.
However, the laboratory is the setting most characteristic of the
scientist, as the office is characteristic of the clerk. Some scientists
spend all their working time in the laboratory; others spend a part
of it in an office or a library. Some leave the laboratory incidentally
to obtain samples or to observe the object of their study in its natural
environment. Others may spend most of their time in “field work.”
Geologists and mining engineers, for example, may work at sites
where there are known or are believed to be oil or mineral deposits.
Certain foresters, mechanical engineers, or entomologists may
spend most of their time outside the laboratory in forests, in manu
facturing plants, or in insect-breeding areas, respectively. Others
792277“—49------ 4
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
1-12
in these same fields may be in the laboratory or at desks most of the
time. The mathematician is perhaps the only one whose work is
primarily at a desk, where he usually has special equipment in the
form of calculators, slide rules, logarithmic tables, and other refer
ence works. On the whole, women have been relatively few in the
occupations entailing field work and relatively more numerous in
the desk jobs. However, they are found in every type of
employment.
r
/7
m
A ft, y
Courtesy U. S. Department of Agriculture
Figure 7.—An entomologist identifying a new and strange insect by
comparison with known insects in the Smithsonian Institution
collection.
The laboratories in which they work vary not only in size but in
appearance and type of equipment, according to the subject of study.
In astronomy, an observatory, usually located on a point higher than
the surrounding terrain, is typical. In meteorology, the weather sta
tion is characteristic. Both have special equipment used for observa
tion or testing or calculating. This equipment, largely mechanical,
resembles that found in a physics or engineering laboratory more
than it does that in a chemical laboratory. Machinery seems to domi
nate as compared with the solutions, powders, glassware, and notice
able odors to which a chemist becomes accustomed. In biological
laboratories, one is likely to find living animals and/or plants used
for study, the ever-present microscope, slides, and media for cultures.
EMPLOYMENT
1-13
Because of the interrelationships in science itself and because a
practical problem often involves the use of a number of sciences, even
a small laboratory may actually be a combination of several types of
laboratories. Almost all medium-sized and large laboratories have
separate units classified either according to the science primarily used
or according to the type of problem or product studied.
In the United States Bureau of Standards, for example, some of
the principal divisions are as follows: Chemistry, electricity, optics,
and heat and power. The Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home
Economics of the United States Department of Agriculture, one of
the largest laboratory employers of women, includes such divisions as:
Foods and nutrition, textiles and clothing, housing and household
equipment.
One large industrial company in the metal-products field, in addi
tion to its plant-control laboratories, both physical and chemical, has
the following research and developmental laboratories: Metallurgy,
chemistry, physics, ceramics and nonmetallics, products research, and
welding research, in addition to a photography group and a library
group.
A large research laboratory in a foods corporation includes the
following departments: Organic chemistry, colloid chemistry, physi
cal and inorganic chemistry, food technology, biochemistry, micro
biology, analytical chemistry, chemical engineering, mechanical de
velopment, technical kitchen, manufacturers’ service.
A small ceramics company has a plastic laboratory which includes
chemical and physical research, an analytical chemical laboratory, a
ware testing laboratory, a ceramics research laboratory, and a glass
composition research laboratory.
In a sizable drug company, the scientific division includes six labora
tories : Bacteriology (with separate units for control, product, and re
search), organic chemistry, analytical (chemical) control, pharmacy,
biochemistry, and pharmacology (which includes units on pathologyhematology, bio-assav work, and research). An additional miscel
laneous group works directly under the head of the division, usually
on ordinary examinations, and runs the library.
A large chemical corporation, in addition to many works or control
laboratories, has the following divisions in its central research labora
tories: Research, physics, technical service, biological-pharmacologi
cal, mining chemicals, and chemical engineering. There are numerous
subdivisions and smaller units within these departments.
A laboratory in a merchandising company which tests, evaluates,
and works on the development and improvement of merchandise, has
the following divisions: Chemical, textile, electrical, home economics,
and mechanical and combustion.
1-14
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
In a large medical research institution, the department of labora
tories conducts investigations in chemistry, pathology and bacteri
ology, and physiology. Each of these divisions is further subdivided.
The pathology and bacteriology laboratory, for example, includes a
special laboratory of cancer research. In addition to the department
of laboratories and the department of hospitals where infectious,
metabolic, and cardiovascular diseases are studied, there is a depart
ment of animal and plant pathology.
Some laboratory work, especially of the control type, may be carried
on in a setting that looks very much like a college chemistry laboratory
with long laboratory tables equipped with sinks, burners, test-tube
racks and other equipment in frequent use. Other laboratories may
look more like parts of an industrial plant with miniature ovens,
machinery, or physical testing equipment. Research laboratories es
pecially are likely to have some individual cubicles or small labora
tories where the research scientist may work alone or with one or two
assistants, assembling his own materials and equipment. Some equip
ment, either because it is extraordinarily costly or because it must be
used under certain conditions (of lighting, temperature, humidity, or
sound, for example), may be housed in a separate room where control
can be maintained without interrupting other work. Laboratories
using animals for experimentation usually house them in separate
quarters handy to the laboratory.
Another type of laboratory is the pilot plant which, like an experi
mental kitchen, is in effect a laboratory that attempts to reproduce the
environment in'which a product is made, processed, or used under
desirable, controlled circumstances. Such a plant, of course, pioneers
in operating procedures.
There are infinite variations in size as well as type. These range
from a one-room control laboratory to one or more buildings devoted
to laboratory work to a building especially constructed for unusual
scientific equipment such as observatories for telescopes or buildings
to house cyclotrons used in splitting the atom.
Types of Employers of Women in Science
There are no statistics showing the distribution of all scientific
workers according to the type of laboratory or establishment in which
they work. For some of the sciences, such as chemistry and engineer
ing, comprehensive data are available from recent surveys, and such
information is presented for specific fields in the other bulletins in
this series. Here, only the over-all picture and the differences are
emphasized.
The amount of self-employment for both men and women in the
sciences included in this report is almost negligible except in archi-
EMPLOYMENT
1-15
Courtesy U. S. Department of Agriculture
Figure 8.—A physicist, at work on heat elimination and respiratory
exchange of poultry, taking a humidity reading in a specially equipped
room.
1-16
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
tecture. About half of all architects are self-employed (35). compared
to chemists and engineers of whom about 3 percent are self-employed
(3) (11).
For scientifically trained persons not self-employed, wide differences
in type of employer are evident when the various fields are compared.
In mathematics and geography, for example, the majority of profes
sional workers are in educational institutions, where they are pri
marily teachers. In engineering, chemistry, and geology, on the
other hand, the majority are employed in industry. In meteorology
and civil engineering, Government is the principal employer.
An examination of the available statistics on the three principal
employers of scientists—industry, Government, and educational and
research institutions—supplies another view of the distribution of
the employment of scientific workers. Although here, too, there is
the handicap of a variety of sources and classifications, and informa
tion by sex is not always available, gross comparisons are indicative.
In 1946, almost 55,000 scientific personnel and an additional 35,000
technical personnel not classified as full scientists were employed in
industrial research laboratories in the United States, according to the
National Research Council (21). These figures do not include some
45,000 clerical, maintenance, and administrative personnel. The tech
nicians, being for the most part less specialized and less highly trained,
were not grouped according to principal field. But more than threefourths of the scientific personnel were reported to be divided about
equally between chemists and engineers, who numbered roughly 21,000
each. Physicists, metallurgists, and biologists (including bacteri
ologists) ranked next. The 5,500 in other scientific professions repre
sented a group almost as large, showing the variety of sciences repre
sented. No figures are available on the proportion of men and women
in these laboratories.
In addition, of course, there is another large group of men and
women, mostly chemists with some bacteriologists and other bio
logical scientists, employed in control or testing laboratories or in
plant work. Engineers, architects, and geologists, not self-employed
or engaged in research, teaching, or Government work, also swell this
grouji employed in private industry.
In 1945-46, information was obtained by the Women’s Bureau from
78 industrial firms having research laboratories which employed more
than 28 percent of all persons estimated as working in such labora
tories. From most of them statistics were obtained on the number of
women college graduates with a major in science, engineering, or
mathematics who were employed not only in the research laboratory
but in the control laboratory, engineering department, library, or any
EMPLOYMENT
■0”*
1-17
#3
Courtesy Crane Research Laboratories
Figure 9.—Analyzing gases taken off metal in an industrial research
laboratory.
other part of the organization. Eight of them employed no women
of this type, although they had done so during the war or at some
previous time. From two, only rough estimates were available. For
the remaining 68 firms, the distribution of the college women trained
in science employed by them, according to the field of scientific work
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
1-18
in which they were engaged, is shown in table 2. The predominance
of chemistry and the extensive use of women trained in a combination
of sciences or in one of several optional sciences are evident. Mathe
matics and technical library work were the other principal occupa
tions of this group of women employed in industry.
Of seventeen commercial testing laboratories which had employed
women with a college major in science at some time, 11 were found
to employ 82 women of this type in 1946. (See table 2.) Women
trained in chemistry, in a combination of sciences, or in an optional
science again were more numerous than those from other specified
scientific fields.
Table 2.—Women College Graduates Employed in 68 Industrial Firms With Re
search Laboratories and in 11 Commercial Testing Laboratories, by Type of
Scientific Work, 1945—46
Number
Type of scientific work
Percent
68 industrial
68 industrial
11 commer
11 commer
firms with cial labora firms with
cial labora
research
research
tories
tories
laboratories
laboratories
Total_________________
2,063
32
100.0
100.0
Miscellaneous scientific work 1
Chemistry--------------------------Mathematics-----------------------Engineering........... .....................
Bacteriology________________
General biological science
Physics. __________________
Botanical science____________
Zoological science
Architecture
_____________
Technical library, work_ ...
_
Technical illustrating_______
Patent work _ _ _____________
Technical secretarial work
.
Technical writing or editing ...
848
622
189
80
44
39
38
9
4
2
123
21
16
16
' 12
11
17
41.1
30.2
9.2
3.9
2. 1
1.9
1.8
.4
.2
34. 4
.53. 1
•
1
2
1
n
3. 1
6.3
3.1
6.0
1.0
.8
.8
.6
1 Includes those engaged in laboratory or other scientific work requiring a combination of sciences, such
as physics and chemistry, or those for whom the specific science was optional within a group, such as chemis
try, biology, or physics.
2 Less than 1/10 of 1 percent.
Source: Women’s Bureau, 1945-46.
The total employment of scientific personnel in universities has
been estimated by the President’s Scientific Research Board at 50,000
in 1946-47. The proportion of women as well as the number engaged
in teaching each of the separate sciences is not given in this report
{48). But more than 2,400 women were among the more than 20,000
persons reported in December 1942 by the National Roster of Scientific
and Specialized Personnel as faculty personnel in the scientific fields
included in this study. The Roster report covered 90 percent of the
institutions of higher education in the United States. (See table 3.)
Over one-fourth of the men and women faculty members combined
were in engineering; the combined biological sciences, mathematics,
EMPLOYMENT
1-19
I
Courtesy Monsanto Chemical Co.
Figure 10.—A technical illustrator putting into a drawing a health
physicist’s idea for a new research instrument.
and chemistry each accounted for roughly one-sixth. Women teach
ers were most numerous in the biological sciences and mathematics,
where they also formed a higher proportion of all teachers than they
did in .any other field except geography, where they were onethird (39).
792277°—49------5
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
1-20
Other statistics on women members of science faculties were ob
tained by the Women’s Bureau in a count in 1947 of such women
(identifiable by name) in catalogs of 330 institutions of higher edu
cation in the United States. These institutions are believed by the
United States Office of Education to be a representative sample of all
such institutions in the United States with respect to enrollments.
Table 4 shows the distribution of the faculty women in science in the
Table 3.—Women on Science Faculties in 1,573 Institutions of Higher Education in
the United States, December 1942
Number
Percent
Scientific field
Total
Women
Total
Women
Percen t
women
are of
total
Total in the sciences reported separately___
20,031
2,422
100.0
100.0
12.1
Biological sciences (including zoology, botany, etc.)
Mathematics___
Chemistry________ ____ __
Physics
______
Geography___________ _____
Engineering __________
Geology_________ ____ ___ _____
Meteorology.... ... _____
__
Architecture. - ....................... _
3, 557
3, 483
3. 464
2. 828
488
5. 394
657
324
336
782
686
485
178
157
50
46
28
10
17.8
17.4
17. 3.
11. 6
2.4
26. 9
3. 3
32.3
28. 3
20. 0
22.0
1.7
.4
14 0
6. 5
2.1
3.0
Source: National Roster ot Scientific and Specialized Personnel (!9).
Table 4.—Women on Science Faculties in Institutions of Higher Education in the
United States, by Principal Scientific Field, 1946
Scientific field
Women on science fac
Women on
ulties in 330 institu science faculties
tions of higher edu
in all 1,749
cation
institutions of
N umber
Percent
Total________ _____
Chemistry_______
Mathematics 1_____
Zoological sciences_________
General biology______ - .
Botanical sciences_______
Bacteriology_________ ____ _
Physics ____________ ___
Geography_____ _______
Geology___________________
Engineering___________ __
Astronomy_____
Architecture and landscape architecture Meteorology______ ____
Miscellaneous or unidentified science
More than 1 science ____
Science combined with nonscientific work_
_
tion in the
United States,
if sample is
representative
7, 722
402
304
208
194
112
94
70
31
25
16
11
1, 585
1,415
1,001
5.2
.9
53
.3
142
136
43
20
7.9
7.6
2.4
590
202
.
1 Does not include count of 13 women teaching statistics, estimated total 44.
Source: Women’s Bureau count of women listed on science faculties in catalogs of 330 institutions of higher
learning included in an enrollment sample of the U. S. Office of Education. The sample included 22 publicly
controlled complex universities and 20 privately controlled universities representing 131 institutions of these
types, it included 53 public and private colleges of arts and sciences representative of 557 institutions of
th^o7iP'\ 7! technlcal. and professional schools and 56 public and private teachers colleges represented 287
,201 schools, respectively. 30 public and 47 private junior colleges and 31 Negro institutions represented
468 junior colleges and 105 Negro institutions of higher education.
EMPLOYMENT
1-21
Courtesy Ohio State University
Figure 11.—An assistant professor in bacteriology supervises an injection
made by a student, while an assistant instructor holds the rabbit.
sample institutions and the number that would be found in all, if the
sample is as truly representative of faculties as it is of enrollment.
The predominance of specialization in chemistry, mathematics,
and the biological sciences among women scientists in colleges and
universities is again evident in table 4. A trebling in total number
from 1942 to 1946 is also indicated, although the figures in tables 3
and 4 cannot be compared exactly because of differences in coverage
and method. However, a sizable increase in the number of women
on science faculties in 1946 as compared with 1942 is likely, in view
of the enormous postwar increase in college enrollments and the em
ployment of women to replace men faculty members who have not
returned to college teaching.
On the periphery of this study, since some have majored in mathe
matics or science in college although most of them have not, are a
large number of high-school teachers; 40,000 teachers of mathematics,
some 50,000 teachers of science, and some 1,000 teachers of geography.
Many of these are women.
Unlike these high-school teachers, college teachers of science not
only have the bachelor’s degree but a graduate degree in science as
well. Many of them, in addition to teaching, are engaged in research
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
1-22
either independently or as a member of a team on a larger research
project being carried on at, the institution.
In 1946, 292 educational institutions were listed by the National
Research Council as offering research services to industry (21). Pure
scientific research was also carried on principally in colleges and
universities which spent 42 million dollar’s on research in 1940 (l/>).
This was about equal to only one-sixth the research expenditures of
industry and to two-thirds that of Government. During the war, the
universities spent much less on research, since the Federal Government
financed projects at more than 300 colleges and universities diverting
available personnel to wartime research. Many additional scientists
and a larger number of aids and technicians, many of them women,
were hired by the colleges to work on these Federal projects which
were directed by the regular faculty research group.
Table 5.—Professional Scientific Men and Women in federal Agencies Engaged in
Research, by Scientific Field, 1947
Scientific field
Total—___________________ ___
_____________
Number
. .
Percent
Physicists...... ......... ...................................................................................................
Others, including bacteriologists, pathologists, physiologists, and astrono-
29,600
100.0
11,600
7,800
2, 600
1, 750
1,200
750
700
500
39.2
26.3
8.8
5.9
4.1
2.5
2.4
1.7
2,700
Engineering scientists____________ ___________ ____________________
Agricultural scientists________________________________________
9.1
Source: The President’s Scientific Research Board (47).
Table 6.—Women College Graduates Employed in 50 Units of the Federal Govern
ment, by Type of Scientific Work, 1946
Type of scientific work
Number
Percent
Total................................
881
100.0
Chemistry—................................
Mathematics......................... .
Engineering____________ ___
Physics__________ ________
Bacteriology—................... ........
Zoological science___________
Geology.................................. .
Botanical science.—.................
Biology, general____________
Meteorology_______________
Architecture................. .........T_.
Geography.................................
Miscellaneous scientific work
Technical library work_____
Technical illustrating_____
Technical writing or editing..
Patent examining__________
224
134
78
61
46
30
26
18
17
15
5
a
27
111
39
28
19
25.4
15.2
8.9
6.9
5.2
3.4
3.0
2.0
1.9
1.7
.6
.3
3.1
12.6
4.4
3.2
2.2
I
1 Includes those engaged in undesignated scientific work or in work requiring a combination of 2 or more
sciences.
Source: Women’s Bureau, 1946.
EMPLOYMENT
1-23
Similar to the research work done in universities, but less closely
i elated to teaching, is that carried on in such independent research
institutions as the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research and
the Carnegie Institution of Washington. In 1940, about 13 million
dollars was spent on scientific research of this type and on all other
research outside industry, colleges, and Government {45).
Government is a large employer of men and women trained in the
sciences and has been absorbing an increasing proportion of them
{45). In such units as public-health laboratories, sanitation and high
way commissions, and geological surveys, State governments employ
chemists, bacteriologists, engineers, geologists, and others trained in
the sciences. During the war, of course, the Federal Government not
only financed the work of scientists in colleges and universities and
industry but also expanded its own personnel especially in the War
and Navy Departments. In 1947, 2 years after the cessation of hos
tilities, some 30,000 persons with professional civil service ratings as
physical, biological, or agricultural scientists or engineers were em
ployed in scientific activities in Federal agencies engaged in research,
according to the President’s Scientific Research Board {48). As
shown in table 5, the largest groups were agricultural scientists and
engineers working in research agencies.
Courtesy U. S. Public Health Service
Figure 12. A public health laboratory worker searching for malaria
parasites in a blood sample.
1-24
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
The total number of women employed in scientific work in the
Federal Government is not known. But the Women’s Bureau in 1946
obtained statistics from more than 50 separate bureaus and other units
of the Federal Government which were reported by the United States
Civil Service Commission to be principal employers of scientific work
ers. From some, only partial statistics were available so that the
numbers given represent a minimum. However, the variety of the
scientific work done by women is indicated, and it is probable that
the volume of women’s employment in scientific work approaches and
may exceed 1,000 (table 6). The employment of women in Govern
ment scientific work appears to be more varied as to scientific field
and less concentrated than it is in industry. However, chemistry
and mathematics rank highest in Government as they do in industry
and in educational institutions.
THE SUPPLY OF SCIENTIFIC PERSONNEL
The usual difficulties of adjusting the supply of workers in a
given field to the demand for them are found in even greater degree
in the sciences. The inadequacy of current information on job
openings and the lack of mobility of trained personnel are handi
caps in these fields as in others. Regional and local differences in
demand in the sciences are noted later. The long and specialized
preparation required for scientific work is an additional factor which
impedes a ready adjustment of supply to demand.
Training and Supply
Training as a factor in supply becomes more important at the
graduate level of preparation but must also be reckoned with at the
bachelor’s degree level. The scientific fields discussed in this bul
letin, unlike medicine, do not have minimum requirements set by law
for all those engaged in them. Among them, engineering and
architecture are the only fields in which licensing is provided for in
all or most States. In 1946, most architects and about one-third
of the engineers were registered. For registration, graduation from
an approved school or the equivalent is usually required in addition
to specified experience and, often, the passing of certain examinations.
In these and in some of the nonlicensed fields, there are also standards
of education *and job experience required for membership in profes
sional organizations which influence, although they do not in any sense
set, requirements for employment. These are described in other bul
letins in this series. In chemistry, as well as in engineering and archi
tecture, standards have been established for approved courses of train
ing. Such standards over a period of years influence both employers
and training centers, raising the usual requirements for employment
and extending the customary training period.
These standards, combined with the increasing complexity of scien
tific knowledge, have tended toward longer education. In engineering,
for example, where graduate training is not customary, the trend is
toward a 5-year undergraduate course as compared with a 4-year
course (26). In the physical and biological sciences, where graduate
training is usual, the number of Ph. D.’s was increasing rapidly be
fore the war. In 1941, 2,000 Ph. D.’s were awarded in the sciences,
an 8-fold increase over the 1912 number. The increase in advanced
1-25
1-26
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
study in the sciences during that period was twice as great as the
increase in college enrollments generally (M).
The number of Ph. D.’s awarded in the sciences each year represents
an addition to the supply of scientists qualified by their high degree
of academic specialization for research and college teaching positions.
In addition to the 2,000 doctorates in the sciences awarded in 1941,
the major addition to the supply that year was derived from the 17,000
persons who received a bachelor’s degree in one of the sciences and the
14,000 engineers who were graduated that year (32). Perhaps 1,000
of these graduates entered schools of medicine or dentistry or took other
professional work. A small additional number, mostly women, for
family, health, or other reasons, did not enter work requiring scientific
training. The number of newcomers to full-time employment in the
sciences and engineering in the last year before World War II was,
therefore, probably in the neighborhood of, and probably less than,
30,000, including 2,000 Ph. D.’s and some 14,000 engineers. An un
known number, amounting to less than 10,000 of these, merely replaced
persons who died, retired, or transferred to nonscientific work.
The supply of persons in scientific work, therefore, was increasing
before the war at both the higher Ph. D. and the lower bachelor’s
degree levels. However, the rate of growth varied in the different
fields, as discussed in other bulletins in this series.
Effect of World War II on the Supply
In addition to the acceleration of college programs, other attempts
were made during World War II to increase the supply of scientific
personnel to meet the tremendous additional demand, especially for
engineers, physicists, chemists, and mathematicians. But the long
and specialized type of training required to prepare persons fully for
scientific work placed a limit on these attempts. In the military
services, men and a few women, already prepared in the sciences or
engineering, were given specialized training for highly specialized
scientific tasks. And, under the Engineering, Science, Management
War Training program financed by the Federal Government in more
than 200 colleges and universities throughout the country, more than
one million men and more than one-fourth million women were
trained mainly as aids or assistants to engineers, chemists, or phys
icists {4-1). Some of the latter, also, received additional training for
war tasks. But the principal increase achieved through this pro
gram, like that attained through the engineering aid and drafting
programs set up by industry and Government and described in Bul
letin 223-5 in this series, was at the semi- or sub-professional level.
This increase, however, enabled the professional scientific personnel
to spread their skills over a wider area and freed them from many
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of the more routine*tasks that in peacetime they are called upon to
perform.
While this type of conservation of the supply already trained for
scientific work was taking place, however, the primary source of
additional scientists was virtually cut off by the drafting of the
young men who normally make up the college enrollments in the
sciences and engineering. During the early part of the war, the
Army Specialized Training Program and the Navy V-5 and Y-12 pro
grams enabled some of these young men to remain in college, and
some of the more advanced students were deferred from military
service. But, in spite of many objections, the United States ultimately
drafted its potential scientists along with other young men who
qualified for military service. This wartime curtailment deprived
the Nation of about one-half of its normal increase in scientists and
an aggregate during the war years of 90,000 bachelors of scientific
subjects, plus some 5,000 Ph. D.’s, according to the President’s Scien
tific Research Board (48). It also resulted in a higher proportion
of women graduates among those who completed their training dur
ing this period.
In 19 scattered colleges and universities of various types which
supplied statistics on the number of women obtaining degrees in
science or mathematics before the war, during the war, and in 1945-46,
for example, that number increased steadily from 479 bachelor’s in
1939-40 to 617 bachelor’s in 1945—16, a total increase of 29 percent.
Master’s and doctor’s degrees awarded to women at these institutions
also increased in the same period from 90 to 118, a 31 percent increase.
Following the end of the war, the encouragement and financial aid
supplied by the GI bill resulted in the highest college enrollments in
the history of the Nation, and in record enrollments in engineering
(where they doubled the prewar number), in chemistry, and in
physics. In geology and the biological sciences, however, the National
Research Council’s Office of Scientific Personnel reported that en
rollments seemed to have decreased in spite of the increase in demand.
In 1946, the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded in science totaled
35,000. This corresponded roughly to the usual prewar number, but
it was not enough to make up the wartime deficit or to meet the con
stantly growing peacetime demand for scientific personnel. The pro
duction of Ph. D.’s in 1946 was still a third below prewar levels, and
deficits were expected to continue to 1957, since it takes “an average
of 10 years of training to prepare for independent scientific re
search.” (48)
In 1947, the President’s Scientific Research Board predicted a quan
titatively ample supply of scientists by 1957. In 1947, no oversupply
792277°—49------6
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
1-28
::
Courtesy University of Cincinnati
Figure 13.—An engineering student in the chemistry laboratory.
in any field appeared probable, but engineers were declared to be in
better supply than any other major scientific group (48).
The Board, however, like others who have examined the situation,
expressed concern over the quality of the supply of scientific personnel
produced (4£). Science classes in most colleges and universities were
too large in 1947 for individual attention and encouragement. Al
though twice as many science and engineering students were enrolled
in 1946-47 as compared with the years preceding the war, science
faculties had increased only one-third and were not as highly trained.
Only greater maturity and effort on the part of science students and
the varied wartime experience of some of the faculty members could
offset the handicaps which beset scientific education in the early post
war period.
Potential Supply
The long and specialized character of the preparation required for
scientific work affects the supply of scientific workers in another way.
Its costliness in terms of both time and money undoubtedly results in
the loss of some talented individuals who might otherwise prepare
themselves for work in this field. This is particularly true of young
SUPPLY
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women because, traditionally, investment in the education of the sons
of a family is made at the expense of higher education for the daugh
ters, where a choice must be made. This fact coupled with the greater
withdrawals of women for marriage and family reasons explains
in part the difference between the number of college degrees awarded
to men and the number awarded women. The divergence increases
with the length of study required for the degree. Before the war, in
the year 1939-40, according to the United States Office of Education,
41 percent of the bachelor’s degrees, 38 percent of the master’s degrees,
and only 13 percent of the doctorates were earned by women (Ifi).
The small proportion of women ordinarily earning doctorates in
the sciences has been indicated in the discussions of particular sciences
in other parts of this series. Marriage and the home responsibilities
of women, both single and married, will continue to keep this pro
portion lower than that for men. But other factors reducing the
proportion can be eliminated, such as the lack of encouragement and
financial aid which now deters an unknown number of qualified young
women from undertaking training for a scientific field. The im
portance of this potential supply of women scientists has been pointed
out before (16).
Financial Aid.—Progress has already been made in the form of an
increasing number of assistantships, fellowships, and scholarships
available to women to assist them in financing graduate work in the
sciences. However, all expenses of the training are seldom covered.
College teaching fellowships or assistantships have been the usual
method of encouraging talented young women to continue their study.
These vary with the college that offers them but usually carry a
stipend of $800 to $1,500 which the recipient earns through working
half time as an instructor or as a research assistant. The remaining
time is spent in study which is generally tuition-free. Memorial fel
lowships and others sponsored by industrial firms or other organiza
tions are available for predoctoral research usually in a specified field.
Special grants for professional work at the postdoctoral level are also
offered. Tn 1946, at least 300 companies were financing approximately
1,800 fellowships, scholarships, or grants for scientific research, the
largest number of which were in the field of chemistry (17). The In
stitute of Women’s Professional Relations, in its 1947 revision of
Fellowship and Other Aids for Advanced Work, has brought together
information on fellowships, scholarships, assistantships, and special
grants for professional or advanced work having a value of $100 or
more for the academic year. Loan funds have not been included. The
volume gives a brief description of all other awards for both men and
women reported by 479 colleges and universities, professional schools,
and other organizations.
1-30
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
More than 300 of the awards carefully described do not specify the
subject field of study. Among those in specified subject fields, more
than 600 were in science, mathematics, or engineering. Among these,
the largest number were in chemistry, the second largest in engineer
ing. Most of the biological sciences were well represented. Mathe
matics and bacteriology were less often specified than other subject
fields. In almost all fields, there were some awards designated for
women students only and others which indicated a preference for
women students.
The availability of loan funds and part-time work arrangements, as
well as of scholarships and assistantships, in 188 colleges offering
graduate degrees, is indicated in a Directory of Colleges and Universi
ties Offering Graduate Degrees and Some Form of Graduate Aid,
compiled in 1946 by the National Roster of Scientific and Specialized
Personnel (37). Many large industrial companies also finance in
whole or in part tuition for undergraduate or graduate courses in
science approved by supervisors for members of the laboratory or
engineering staffs. Time off for such study up to 5 hours a week is also
permitted in one such company, for example, to encourage its staff
to continue their scientific education.
The American Association of University Women each year awards
a number of predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships of $1,500 each
to women of the United States who wish to study in the United States
or abroad as well as fellowships for women from other countries to
study in the United States. These have enabled a number of women
to continue research or study in science and in other fields. The John
Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the National Research
Council, and the National Institute of Health are among the other
agencies and organizations that award fellowships directly to both men
and women to pursue research or further study at the doctoral or post
doctoral level (12). Sigma Delta Epsilon, an organization of grad
uate women in science, annually awards a national research fellowship
to a woman to continue research in a scientific field. In spite of the
scholarships available, however, there was a great and immediate
need for more predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships in science in
1947 to enable men and women who had been diverted to other work
during the war to continue their training or to catch up with new
developments in their fields (48).
At the undergraduate level, almost every college and university has
some money available for scholarships or loans. In addition, many
of the local clubs affiliated with national women’s organizations grant
scholarships or loans to individual women. There was in 1947, how
ever, no program for women comparable to that offered to men under
the Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Program which financed 4 years
SUPPLY
1-31
l
of college for selected male high-school graduates who agreed to enter
the Navy, Marine Corps, or Naval Reserve following a period of active
duty upon graduation (32). However, the fact that 7,000 to 8,000
men were enrolled under this program in 1947, like the existence of
the Veterans’ Readjustment Program, relieved the load on existing
scholarship funds established for both men and women.
Although proposals have been made for a national program of
undergraduate and graduate scholarships in science (4-4) (43), and
provision for such a program was approved by the Congress in the
proposed National Science Foundation, there was in 1947 no such
Government-financed program under which future women scientists
might be trained.
During World War II, most scholarship funds were not drawn upon
heavily because of the increase in family incomes, the diversion of
men and women to military action or war production, and the existence
of a variety of war training programs like the Engineering, Science,
and Management War Training program, the Nurse Cadet Corps
program, and the engineering aid training programs sponsored by
Government and industry. As the Veterans’ Readjustment Program
tapers off, however, additional aid at the undergraduate level will be
needed, according to the President’s Scientific Research Board. The
Board quotes a recent study in New York State showing that only 24
percent of the students graduating in the top fourth of their highscliool class fail to go on to college if their family’s income is over
$9,000 a year, while among a similar scholastic group from families
where the income is less than $5,000, half the students do not go to
college (43).
Encouragement in High Schools.—Specialization in scientific fields,
with the exception of engineering and architecture, does not usually
take place until the latter years of the undergraduate course in college
and is often postponed to the postgraduate years. However, the
ground work in mathematics and science is usually laid in the
secondary school. It is at this stage that so many girls are diverted
from establishing a foundation upon which a scientific specialization
can be built. Young men in high school are often urged by their
parents to take science and 3 or 4 years of mathematics, wdiile young
women are encouraged to substitute languages, history, or other op
tional subjects. Four years of science and 4 years of mathematics
are rarely found in the background of young women high-school
graduates. While it is unlikely that the number of women preferring
science and mathematics to other subjects will ever equal the number
of men taking those subjects, it is undoubtedly true that more quali
fied young women would take these subjects if they were not dis
couraged from doing so. An additional number of able young women
1-32
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
i
along with a number of able young men attend high schools offering
a very limited curriculum in these subjects.
In 1946, more than 10,000 high-school science clubs with more than
250,000 members were stimulating interest in and further knowledge
of science among high-school pupils through the Science Clubs of
p|lf|l§§
ifi'iki&i I
iimi
>:
''ilfl
yipii
■11
Courtesy Science Service and University
of Wisconsin Photographic Laboratory
Figure 14.—A 1943 Science Talent Search winner assisting in a cancer
research laboratory in the summer of 1945 in the experimental pro
duction of tumors.
SUPPLY
1-33
America (23). An interesting experiment in the discovery and de
velopment of scientific ability among high-school girls and boys has
also been carried on since 1941 through the annual Science Talent
Search, sponsored by the Westinghouse Electric Co. and Science Serv
ice, a nonprofit organization for the popularization of science. Science
aptitude examinations are given yearly to any last-year student in a
secondary school who writes an essay on a science topic and is certified
by a teacher. From the 300 top-ranking contestants, 40 are awarded
an all-expense trip to Washington, D. C., to attend a 5-day science
talent institute to compete for the scholarships. Two scholarships of
$2,400 each ($600 a year for 4 years) are given, one of them to a girl.
Eight contestants receive scholarships of $400 ($100 a year) ; $3,000
additional may be awarded in scholarships at the discretion of the
judges to the remaining contestants. Some 1,800 previous winners
and honorable mentions have been assisted in obtaining other offers of
scholarships and other financial assistance (27).
The percentage of girls earning the Washington trip is in propor
tion to the percentage of girls entering the competition. Thirty-one
percent of the entries in the third and 28 percent of the entries in the
fourth Searches were girls. The girls who were winners of the first
three Talent Searches were preparing themselves in 1946 for the fol
lowing professions: 11 as chemists, 5 as physicians, 4 as biochemists,
3 as astronomers, 2 as zoologists, 3 as mathematicians, and 1 each as a
chemical engineer, biologist, physicist, psychologist, and anthropolo
gist. Nine had their undergraduate degrees in 1946. One had already
completed work for her master’s and planned to begin on her Ph. D.
in the fall of 1946. Three of the girls were in medical school; six of
them had made Phi Beta Kappa, and one had been elected to Sigma
Xi (23).
*
In 11 States, local organizations such as the State academies of
science have sponsored concurrent science talent searches for highschool seniors in their respective States. A number of industrial
firms also offer to high-school graduates college scholarships in science
at universities in the vicinity of their main plants. Typical of these
are the Bausch and Lomb scholarships at Rochester University and
the George Westinghouse scholarships at Carnegie Institute of
Technology.
Iliese and similar efforts on the local level to encourage promising
students have indicated the extent and the quality of the unmined
scientific talent in the young women as well as the young men in
our secondary schools. The direct relation of opportunity to the
development of such talent is shown by the fact that certain States
consistently failed to have top contestants in the Science Talent Search,
while others had contestants in the honors group in proportions greater
1-34
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
than expected on the basis of the numbers of their high-school seniors.
The study indicated that these differences were related to educational
and economic standards in the States (10).
Other large companies like the General Electric Co. and the Chrys
ler Corp., interested in encouraging the early discovery and develop
ment of scientific talent, have arranged intensive observation or train
ing programs to acquaint high-school teachers and counselors with
work in industry. The President’s Scientific Research Board has re
cently discussed at some length the need to identify potential scientists
early and has made some suggestions as to how this can be done (48).
Certainly, parents, counselors, teachers, employers, and others whose
advice may be sought by young women interested in science should be
wary of discouraging the development of a talent that may be rare.
Earnings and Supply
Among research scientists, according to the President’s Research
Board, psychological satisfactions take precedence over financial re
wards (47). The true scientist is likely to resemble Democritus when
he said “Rather would I explain the cause of a single fact than become
King of the Persians.” He is more often found in a university teach
ing and working in fundamental research where salaries are relatively
lower than he is in an applied science laboratory devoted to develop
ment or research for a single industry where salaries are usually bet
ter. He is more concerned about the quality of his laboratory equip
ment and assistance and with his freedom of thought and action than
he is with the size of his income beyond that required for a reasonable
standard of living. The limit to which the rest of society can go in
exploiting this preoccupation, however, has been reached, judging from
the number of scientists who left university teaching and research
positions during the war and have not returned. The importance of
basic research to society requires that it be recognized and rewarded
as the well-spring from which much real wealth and employment flow.
Recent Nation-wide information on earnings was available for only
a few of the scientific fields in 1947. But they are indicative. The
median of the earnings of men and women physiologists, most of whom
had a doctor’s degree, was $5,050, in 1945. For the women, alone, the
median was only $3,200. Only part of this difference can be explained
by the fact that 17 percent of the women lacked the doctorate, while
2 percent of the men were without it (4). The median for a group
of 110 women bacteriologists in 1947, three-fourths of whom had a
master’s or doctor’s degree, was $3,400. The median of the profes
sional earnings of 94 women engineers in 1946 was $3,576. That for a
group of men engineers with comparable length of experience (ap
proximately 8 years) was $4,320 (11). The most recent information
SUPPLY
1-35
on earnings of chemists dates from the end of 1943, when the median
for women beginners was $1,884 a year as compared with $2,076 for
men without experience; the highest paid group of women, those with
381/2 years of experience, had a median of $4,512, while the median
for men with experience of that length was higher by $840.
In other fields, too, the usual range of salaries for women as indi
cated by scattered reports was from $1,800 to $5,000, except for execu
tive or other top jobs which reached, but seldom exceeded, $10,000.
In a few fields, like astronomy, zoology, and biology, salaries as low
as $1,300 were sometimes reported for beginners in some research
institutions and medical laboratories.
In college teaching the range of salaries tends to be wide, varying
with the size and wealth of the institution and not infrequently with
the scarcity value of the particular instructor and his bargaining
power.
A random sampling of one in six science teachers in colleges and
universities accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges
and Secondary Schools showed a range of salary from less than $2,000
to more than $7,000 a year in 1946. The median salary fell between
$3,000 and $3,999, which was also the salary level in which the largest
group was found. Two-thirds received less than $4,000 (48).
Courtesy U. S. Atomic Energy Commission
Figure 15.—A biologist engaged in the study of the effect of radiation
on mammals at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
1-36
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
In 1946—17, the median salary of high-school teachers in cities of
100,000 and over was $3,593, that in small communities of 2,500-5,000
population was $2,274. The range was from less than $700 to more
than $4,800 (19).
In the Federal Government in 1947, salaries were standard, being
$2,644 for a beginning professional position (Ph. D.’s usually started
at $1,400 more). I he top ceiling in 1947 was $10,000, except for such
exceptions as the Congress would authorize. The median pay for
Government scientists as reported by the President’s Scientific Re
search Board in 1947 was less than $4,500, while the average for those
with a bachelor’s degree was $4,637; for those with a master’s degree,
$5,104, and for Ph. D.’s, $6,340 (4.7).
ORGANIZATIONS OF SCIENTIFIC PERSONNEL
A network of organizations provides opportunity for scientists to
advance and share their knowledge and to promote higher standards
in their fields both in quality of scientific work and in working
conditions.
More than 1,200 societies and organizations in the natural sciences
and technology were listed by the National Research Council in
1942 (20). The principal organizations in each of the major scientific
fields and the extent to which women participate in them are described
in other bulletins in this series. Only the principal groups which
bring together scientists in many fields are mentioned here.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science, orig
inated in 1848 with an initial membership of 461, in 1947 had more
than 33,000 individual members interested in promoting scientific
work. A very small percentage, perhaps as low as 1 percent, were
women, according to an estimate of the Association. Its 15 sections,
each headed by a vice president, were: Mathematics, physics, chem
istry, astronomy, geology and geography, zoological sciences, botanical
sciences, anthropology, psychology, social and economic sciences,
history and philosophy of science, engineering, medical sciences, agri
culture, and education.
It served in 1947 as an integrating group for- 203 affiliated and
associated societies whose members totaled nearly 1,000,000. although
there was of course duplication among them. Some 37 academies of
science in States and cities were among the affiliated groups.
The National Academy of Sciences was incorporated by act of Con
gress in 1863 to advance science and to investigate and report on any
subject of science or art whenever called upon by any department
of the Government of the United States. There are 11 sections of
the Academy: Mathematics, astronomy, physics, engineering, chem
istry, geology and paleontology, botany zoology and anatomy, physi
ology and biochemistry, pathology and bacteriology, and anthro
pology and psychology. Membership is by election and is limited to
350. In 1947, only two women were members, one in the botany sec
tion and one in pathology and bacteriology.
The. National Research Council is a quasi-governmental organiza
tion organized in 1916 by the National Academy of Sciences at the
request of the President of the United States. It promotes research
1-37
1-38
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
in the physical and biological sciences and encourages the applica
tion and dissemination of scientific knowledge for the benefit of the
Nation. Its 220 members represent 85 national scientific organiza
tions, Government agencies, and other research institutions and
include a limited number of members-at-large. In 1947, 3 of its
members were women, 2 in anthropology and 1 a nutritionist in the
Division of Biology and Agriculture. The divisions of the Council
are: Physical sciences, engineering and industrial research, chem
istry and chemical technology, geology and geography, medical sci
ences, biology and agriculture, anthropology and psychology, foreign
relations, and educational relations. Its Office of Scientific Personnel
was in 1947 engaged in a study of the supply of Ph. D.’s in the
sciences.
Among the many honorary and social fraternities in the scientific
fields such as Sigma Xi and Tau Beta Pi to which a few women have
been elected, there is a national graduate women’s scientific fraternity
called Sigma Delta Epsilon, the only woman’s organization to be
affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of
Science. In 1946 it had 15 chapters with about 500 active members.
It furthers interest in science, provides for the recognition of women
in science, and brings them together in a fraternal relationship. To
be eligible for membership, a woman must hold a degree from a recog
nized institution of learning and must be, or have been, engaged in
scientific research. A scholarship fund for women in science provides
an annual scholarship, alternately predoctoral and postdoctoral.
In 1946 the Technical and Scientific Division of the United Office
and Professional Workers of America, Congress of Industrial Organi
zations, successor to the CIO International Federation of Architects,
Engineers, Chemists, and Technicians, announced its launching as an
organization to cover “technical, scientific and salaried employees in
industrial establishments, engineering and design offices, laboratories,
and offices.” Figures on national membership were not available, but
the Washington representative reported 250 members in the Washing
ton, D. C., chapter in December 1946.
THE DEMAND FOR SCIENTIFIC PERSONNEL
The demand for scientific personnel, as stated earlier, has been
steadily increasing over the years in industry, Government, and edu
cational institutions. Following a contraction from the war peak,
particularly in industry and Government, the employment of persons
trained in science has resumed its upward, peacetime trend. Although
a full discussion is not warranted here, some of the factors tending to
increase the effective demand for all scientists are noted briefly below,
since an expanding over-all need improves the opportunity for women
who seek employment in scient ific work.
In Private Industry
In industry the demand is increasing, both for scientific research
workers and for engineering and other personnel who need scientific
training to do technical work required in the functioning of the par
ticular industry or business. The need for the latter type of operating
personnel sky-rocketed during the war, as industry not only expanded
but functioned 24 hours a day. The postwar demand for engineers,
control chemists, mathematical computers, vitamin assayists, and
others included in this group fell below that abnormal peak but re
mained higher than the prewar demand. This is because the industries
in which the proportion of such workers is relatively high have been
steadily expanding over the years; for instance, the chemical indus
tries, including the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, the foods indus
try, and the petroleum industry. Many small industrial companies, as
well as some medical practitioners, have chemical and other routine
testing done for them in commercial laboratories. These, too, have
been increasing in number and were estimated at 250 in 1945. Ex
pansion of construction, to make up for the lag during the depression
years preceding the war as well as the wartime postponement of non
essential building, has accelerated the employment of architects and
of civil engineers beyond the normal growth related to needs of the
growing population.
In industrial research, the growth in demand has been more
spectacular, from 3 industrial research laboratories in 1905 to 2,443
in 1946 (43) {21). According to one writer, this expansion should
continue, since he estimated that there were 25,000 firms in 1945 which
could and should maintain such laboratories (29). More significant
1-39
1-40
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
Courtesy Crane Company Research Laboratories
Figure 16.—A laboratory technician at work in an industrial research
laboratory.
than the number of laboratories lias been the increase in expenditures
for industrial research. The amount spent by industry on research
more than doubled from 1930 to 1940, when it reached 234 million
(4&) ■ In 1947, industry budgeted 450 million for research. Ex
pectations are that the growth will continue. One outstanding scien
tist recently noted three new trends in the attitude of industry toward
research: An increasing interest in fundamental research, a more
liberal interpretation of company policy, and an increasing tendency
to cooperate with other companies in the industry or with uni
versities (7). In addition to company laboratories, industry is using
trade associations, university research services to industry, research
institutions, and consulting laboratories for research projects (50).
In 1946, as noted earlier, almost 55,000 scientific personnel and 35,000
additional technical personnel were employed in industrial research
laboratories, an increase of 50 percent in the former and of more
than 100 percent in the latter group since 1940 (45) (21). Chemistry
and engineering continued to be the principal scientific groups among
industrial research personnel, although all types of scientific workers
were employed. The number of biological scientists in industrial
research laboratories, including bacteriologists, increased 69 percent
from 1940 to 1946, more than any other single major group.
DEMAND
1-41
In Government
The peacetime demand for scientific personnel by Government
lias been increasing even more rapidly than that in industry. State
and local expenditures for laboratory personnel, particularly in the
held of public health, and for engineers have grown. In addition,
the Federal Government nearly tripled its expenditures for scien
tific research in the decade from 1930 to 1940 when they reached 67
million. During the war, of course, the Federal Government financed
most of the 750-million-dollar national total of expenditures for
scientific research, directed mainly toward developmental work on
implements of war (J/)). Two years after the end of hostilities, how
ever, the Federal Government was still expending approximately 625
million dollars for scientific research including research in atomic
energy (46), and the Federal demand for qualified scientific person
nel continued to be greater than the supply in some specialized fields.
In 1947, Hie War and Navy Departments and the Public Health
Service were unable to undertake certain research programs because
of these shortages (45), and other projects were not completely
staffed. The Office of Naval Research alone was spending 70 million
dollars to finance scientific, including medical, research in universities
and private institutions. In 1947, Federal Government research
Courtesy U. S. Public Health Service
Figure 17.—An entomologist checking infection of mosquitoes in a
public health laboratory.
1-42
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
was primarily developmental, only 10 percent being basic or pure
research. The President’s Scientific Research Board recommended
that Government expenditures for basic research be quadrupled by
1957, that those for research in health and medicine be tripled, and
that those for nonmilitary developmental research be doubled (45).
The provisions for a National Science Foundation made by the Con
gress in 1947, and vetoed by the President because he declared it to
be administratively unworkable, included appropriations to be ex
pended for scientific research by selected universities, research insti
tutions, and other organizations (40).
Engineers on construction work, medical laboratory workers in
veterans’ hospitals, and other scientifically trained persons not en
gaged in research were also being employed in increasing numbers
by Government.
In Educational Institutions
The demand for both teaching and research scientists has been
growing and will continue to grow in institutions of higher educa
tion. According to the President’s Scientific Research Board, science
teaching staffs in 1947, although one-fifth larger than they were be
fore the war, were not adequate for the 80-percent increase in stu
dents majoring in the sciences (48)- Enrollments in science and en
gineering were so great in 1946-47 that the Board estimated that
15,000 more instructors in science and engineering were needed to
restore the prewar student-teacher ratio, though that ratio was not
necessarily a desirable one (45). Although some of this current de
mand is a temporary result of the attempt of men diverted from
education to military service during the war to resume their academic
training, the long-time trend in the demand for scientific training
is definitely upward. Factors involved in this trend are:
(1) The higher educational requirements in scientific fields and
in professional fields requiring training in the sciences, such as
medicine and nursi-ng.
(2) The growth in the general demand for education, due not
only to an increasing population, but also to a constantly in
creasing per capita demand for education.
(3) Increasing emphasis on the teaching of science as a back
ground subject for all college as well as liigh-school students.
(4) An increasing number of students from other countries
who come to the United States for scientific training.
(5) Increasing scholarship and other financial aid to under
graduate and graduate students in science. Further assistance
of this sort, to be financed by the Federal Government, has been
DEMAND
1-43
proposed by a number of authorities and was provided for in the
proposed National Science Foundation legislation mentioned
above (44) (45) (49).
Research as well as teaching programs in institutions of higher edu
cation have been increasing, although not so rapidly as those in indus
try and Government. In 1940, expenditures for scientific research by
universities totaled 42 million as compared with 26 million in 1930.
During the war, the universities spent less than 10 million a year,
as most of their research personnel was diverted to Government proj
ects. Since the war, the universities have been handicapped in resum
ing their usual research programs, almost three-fourths of which,
before the war, were devoted to basic research. Research projects
financed at universities by Government and industry usually afford
higher incomes for the research staff, and these have been steadily
increasing (45). About 300 colleges and universities in 1947 were
conducting research projects supported in whole or in part by Federal
funds. Most large universities had many small research projects for
industry that in some cases ran into the hundreds. Many had estab
lished research programs or departments to coordinate such work and
to promote cooperative effort (7). University research, particularly
in basic science, would be greatly stimulated through a national science
foundation similar to that proposed in 1947 (49).
Supporting Factors in Demand
Essential to the support of Government expenditures for scientific
work, and in a large measure responsible for the increasing expendi
tures in privately supported research institutions, is the interest of
the general public in science and scientific research. The personal con
tributions of the population to such medical research funds as those
to fight infantile paralysis, tuberculosis, heart disease, and cancer evi
dence the increasing support available for scientific research. Attend
ance at museums, planetaria, zoological gardens, and scientific exhibits
and the increasing demand for scientific publications, lectures, and
classes are other indications.
The foreign demand for scientists and technicians from the United
States, insatiable since World War II, is also a factor. Other coun
tries, relatively undeveloped industrially or set back by the devasta
tion of war, were attempting rather unsuccessfully in the face of the
local demand to recruit chemists and engineers from the United
States. This foreign demand is expected to continue for some years.
Tending to reduce the demand, on the other hand, technology and
ingenuity are as constantly at work in the laboratory as in the factory,
making it possible to do more work with fewer people. Computing
1-44
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
machines, particularly, and a variety of automatic testing and count
ing machines have eliminated many man-hours of work. But to the
scientist, his own release from such routine, as well as that of members
of his staff, does not mean unemployment but a chance to explore
farther into the great unknown or to perform more adequately the
testing or other functions assigned him. For behind all current
demand for scientifically trained persons backed by financial support
stretches what has been called by the head of the wartime Office of
Scientific Research and Development “The Endless Frontier” (W).
Each addition to scientific knowledge opens other vistas that lure the
true scientist ever onward. This is true not only in physics, which is
popularly considered “the science” of the moment because of the
atomic energy development, but in all scientific fields. For example,
it is being said that “* * * recent biological discoveries have
opened a totally new realm of technical development” (25) (30). And
a physiologist wrote in 1946, “ * * * only an infinitesimally small
fraction of the reckoned possible aspects and processes of organisms
have yet been studied” (1).
The 10 most important advances in science during 1947 in the
opinion of the director of Science Service indicate the lack of monopoly
on progress by any one of the scientific fields as well as their interrela
tionships :
1. Discovery that smell is detected by infrared radiation ab
sorbed by odor material reaching the nose.
2. Pilotless plane that crossed Atlantic untouched by human
hand at controls.
3. Attempts at artificial rain making through sprinkling dry
ice or water on clouds under certain conditions.
4. Synthesis of protein in long-chain molecules, promising new
plastics of medical and industrial importance.
5. Interconversion of proton and neutron fundamental par
ticles and smashing of many more elements yielding new isotopes
and transmutations in world’s highest voltage synchro-cyclotron.
6. Largest display of sunspots in over a century.
7. Use of streptomycin in tuberculosis treatment.
*
8. Development of jet bombers and higher speed jet planes.
9. Discovery of 10,000 year-old Tepexpan man in Mexico.
10. Camera that makes finished photoprint in one-step process.
The head of a great engineering laboratory in 1944, speaking of the
abilities of the engineer for providing “more goods at less cost for
more people to use,” called attention to the fact that, even in the years
from 1929 to 1939, which included a major depression, engineers and
scientists developed among other things: Transoceanic passenger air
DEMAND
1-45
service; fluorescent lighting; glass building blocks; synthetic rubber,
hosiery, and vitamins; sulfanilamide; and many new plastics (24).
“The real ceiling on our productivity of new scientific knowledge and
its application in the war against disease, and the development of new
products and new industries, is the number of trained scientists avail
able,” said the head of the Office of Scientific Research and Develop
ment in 1945 (44).
Beckoning the ablest young men and women scientists of the future
are such problems as those listed below :
The utilization of atomic energy,
Creation of national low-cost housing,
Synthesis and improvement of the antibiotics,
Creation of an electrical standard of living in the home,
The control and prevention of some kinds of cancer,
Discovery of the secret of photosynthesis,
Cure for the common cold,
Extension of electricity to the farm,
The use of electronics in medicine,
Discovery of the true structure of the protein molecule,
Application of radioactive isotopes,
The development of microwave transmission (14) (24) (31).
Courtesy U. S. Atomic Energy Commission
Figure 18.—A physicist at the control console of the chain-reacting pile
at a laboratory of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission.
THE OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN EACH OF THE
PRINCIPAL SCIENTIFIC FIELDS
The pap between the supply of scientifically trained persons and
the demand for them, which was in some cases created and in some
widened by World War II, became more marked in some scientific
fields than in others. In some, too, it will be bridged more rapidly
(han it will be in others. The other reports in this series discuss the
relation of supply to demand in each of the principal fields and its effect
upon women’s opportunities for training and employment. Here,
only a brief, simplified summary is given for purposes of comparison.
Outlook for Women in Chemistry
The largest number of positions for women trained in nonmedical
science will continue to be in the field of chemistry, where more than
5,000 women were employed in 1946. Although this was three times
the number of women employed in chemistry before the war and
although more women are studying chemistry than ever before, their
numbers were still too small in relation to the total to be a major factor
or problem in supply. In this largest scientific field for them, women
are distinctly in a minority position, numbering about 6 percent of
the total. The demand for well-trained women in chemistry, though
fur below that of the war peak when even poorly trained persons could
obtain work, will continue in educational institutions, in industry,
in Government, and in research centers. Women Ph. D.’s, remaining
scarce, will be in demand for college teaching or research, especially
for basic research or applied research in medicine or foods lines. The
great majority of women with bachelor’s degrees will be engaged in
analytical chemical laboratory work in industrial or medical labora
tories. They will be found in every type of industry, but in largest
numbers in chemical manufacturing, foods, and petroleum and coal
products industries. Another sizable group will become secondaryschool teachers of science. The large, unmet demand for women
trained in chemistry for related work as teachers, librarians, editors,
and secretaries will act as a cushion to any possible, but unlikely, over
supply of women trained in chemistry.
For further information, see Bulletin 223-2.
1-46
OUTLOOK IN PRINCIPAL FIELDS
1-47
full
Iff..
:
: * **
.
,
Courtesy U. S. Department of Agriculture
Figure 19-—A chemist running a sample of DDT into a microdispenser
tube for weighing.
Outlook for Women in the Biological Sciences
Although in all there are only about 2.500 women in the biological
sciences, less than half the number of women in chemistry, women
have played and will continue to play a relatively larger role in such
fields as bacteriology, general botany, and general biology. In bacteri
ology, particularly, where they already number one-fourth of the total,
there is a growing demand for their services especially in teaching
and in medical laboratories and to some extent in'the foods and drugs
industries. The use of antibiotic drugs has created a new and con
tinuing demand. Growth in medical research will increase opportuni
ties for women bacteriologists, although the tendency to prefer the
M. D. in medical research somewhat limits opportunities in that field
for those who do not possess it. In general botany where they num
ber one-fifth, women are in demand principally as teachers, although
there is a much wider variety of work in which there are opportunities
for small numbers. In general biology, where they nufnber one-fifth,
and in general zoology and physiology, where they number slightly
less, the principal demand is for teachers and for medical laboratory
workers. In all these fields, graduate training is virtually necessary
for most work, except for technicians and assistants in medical labora
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
1-48
tories and for higli-school teaching jobs. For industrial laboratory
work, for much of the medical laboratory work, and for many highschool teaching jobs, a knowledge of chemistry particularly, or, in
some cases, physics or mathematics, is needed in addition to training
in biological science. Only a few women have pioneered in the related
agricultural sciences. In poultry and animal husbandry, horticul
ture, agronomy, and forestry, for example, they compose less than
1 percent of the total. Except in forestry, where isolated field work
is common, there is nothing in the nature of these sciences that should
deter women from their study and practice. More women can be
absorbed in these related fields, but they must be well-trained and
adaptable to an extreme minority situation.
For further information, see Bulletin 223-3.
Outlook for Women in Mathematics and Statistics
In mathematics as in some of the biological sciences, women form
the relatively high proportion of about one-fifth of the total. They
number a little more than 2,000, if those engaged in statistics and
the large number of mathematics teachers who have not majored in
mathematics are excluded. The principal demand for women in
mathematics will always be in teaching, both at the college level,
for the more highly specialized group, and at the high-school level,
for the bachelor’s group. A small industrial demand, much reduced
from the wartime peak, will continue for computers, principally in
public utilities and in such firms as those manufacturing instruments,
metal and metal products, and electrical, communication, and trans
portation equipment. Opportunity will be greater for those who are
also trained in chemistry or physics. Insurance companies will con
tinue to be a principal source of demand for mathematical and
statistical clerks.
Women thoroughly trained as mathematical statisticians will find
ample opportunity in industry and in Government in this relatively
new field. At the top levels of mathematical research and as actuaries,
women will continue to be rare. It is probable that the few women
preparing themselves for such work in the future, as in the past, will
have enough ability and motivation to hold their own.
For further information, see Bulletin 223-4.
\
■ Outlook for Women in Engineering
Women in engineering, forming much less than 1 percent of the
total number, are still considered pioneers. Yet this field ranks
between bacteriology and physics in the number of women it employs—
more than 900. The tremendous wartime emphasis on engineering
OUTLOOK IN PRINCIPAL FIELDS
1-49
encouraged more women to enroll in engineering schools and likewise
resulted in a postwar doubling of the prewar enrollments of men in
engineering schools. Indications are that the supply will overtake
the demand more quickly in this field than in the others. Competi
tion for engineering jobs, therefore, is likely to become keen within
a few years. However, most women engineers in the past have
worked out unique jobs for themselves in directions where they have
a natural advantage. Others have used their engineering training as
background for technical editing and writing or patent work. The
variety of their work in all fields of engineering is indicated in
Bulletin 223-5. There will continue to be a place for women of
ability and imagination in engineering.
For women engineering aids, on the other hand, the demand has
virtually disappeared and is not likely to be revived so long as young
inexperienced male engineers are available to do this work as part
of their in-service training. Only a few jobs of this nature in which
continuity is important will remain open to women, but more often
under such titles as computer or engineering draftsman.
For further information, see Bulletin 223-5.
Outlook for Women in Architecture
Although women architects, numbering 300, are only one-third
as numerous as women engineers, they have been more conspicuous for
two reasons. In the first place, the proportion they form of their
professional group, though only 2 percent, is considerably higher than
the 0.3 percent women compose of all engineers. In the second place,
like men architects, they are as likely as not to be practicing
independently.
In this field, for which even fewer women prepared during the
war than before, the immediate outlook is good because of the ex
pected increase in construction to make up for wartime and depres
sion lags. Women architects who wish to practice independently,
however, face the problem of building up a reputation in a field which
requires a triple combination of abilities: scientific, artistic, and busi
ness. Some may prefer to specialize in the newer fields of com
munity or city planning or public housing.
For further information, see Bulletin 223-5.
Outlook for Women in Physics
In physics, where women approximate 900 and form about 5 percent
of the total, employment should be fairly easy to obtain in the next 5
to 10 years at least. This is especially' true for the woman Ph. D.,
since the marked undersupply evident in Government and in industry
1-50
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
in 1!)47 was expected to prevail for some years. Teaching will furnish
by far the largest number of openings for women both in college,
where graduate training is usually necessary to qualify, and at the
high-school level, where it is customary to teach another science or
subject as well. In industrial and Government laboratories, the de
mand for women, though considerably smaller than that in teaching,
wTill continue, especially for the Ph. D. but also for laboratory workers
who are well-trained not only in physics but in chemistry or
mathematics as well.
For further information, see Bulletin 223-6.
Outlook for Women in Geology
In geology, where less than 300 women were employed in 1946,
future opportunities for women will resemble those of the past.
Teaching will absorb the largest group, while State and Federal
Government and industry will employ most of the remaining number.
In industry and in Government ,with few exceptions, women geologists
will be limited to laboratory or desk jobs in connection with which
field work is rare.
For further information, see Bulletin 223-7.
Outlook for Women in Geography
The impetus given to geography by World War II has tended to
increase opportunities for women in this relatively small field in which
they already form one-sixth of the total. In colleges and universities,
where about half of the 140 women trained as professional geographers
were employed in 1946, the demand was increasing, as it was in
other schools, where about one-fourth of them were employed. In
the Federal Government and in industry, there will continue to be
a small, steady demand for professionally trained geographers for
cartographic work and geographic research, writing, and editing.
In this field, graduate training is necessary to qualify.
For further information, see Bulletin 223-7.
Outlook for Women in Astronomy
In astronomy, where women comprise about one-sixth of the total,
the Ph. D. is a virtual necessity, except for computing work. Women
will continue to find occasional openings in college teaching and re
search at observatories. Outlets in this field, however, are char
acteristically few, and turn-over is low. On the other hand, the
number of women trained in this field is also small, totaling about
OUTLOOK IN PRINCIPAL FIELDS
1-51
100 in 1947. Those who can teach mathematics and physics as well
as astronomy will be in greatest demand.
For further information, see Bulletin 223-6.
Outlook for Women in Meteorology
Although large numbers of women were trained as weather ob
servers during the war, and hundreds were still so employed in 1946,
only a handful of women, probably no more than 30, were qualified
or working as professional meteorologists in 1946. Men will continue
to be very definitely preferred in this field, which is steadily grow
ing in importance but for which thousands of men and women re
ceived at least partial training during World War II. For the few
women specializing in this field, however, there will be limited op
portunities in teaching, writing, and research.
For further information, see Bulletin 223-7.
Courtesy U. S. Weather Bureau
Figure 20.—A meteorologist making computations she will use in
preparing training material for weather forecasters.
VARIATIONS IN THE OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN
SCIENCE
Just as the opportunity for employment and progress is greater in
some scientific fields than it is in others, so within a given scientific
field or specialization, the prospects for individual women vary, not
only with their aptitude and training for the work but also with their
location and their characteristics. These variations, as noted below,
should be considered in relating information of the type presented in
these bulletins to the employment or training plans of an individual
woman.
Geographic Variations in the Outlook
Opportunities for employment in science are not equally good in
all parts of the United States. Although this fact presents no prob
lem to the woman who can move to any locality in which jobs are
available, it is significant to the woman who, because of home or other
responsibilities, is tied to a particular area. One of the differences
between young men and women noted by many employers of scientific
personnel was the tendency of the women to prefer jobs within 25
to 50 miles of their homes. To what extent this preference is prompted
by choice, to what extent it arises out of necessity, is not known. But
other studies of the Women’s Bureau indicate that the responsi
bilities of single as well as of married women for financial aid or for
personal services to the other members of their families are consider
able. Improvement in labor-saving devices which reduce homemak
ing tasks, a greater supply of practical nurses and household service
workers, higher family incomes, and further improvements in trans
portation facilities over the long-run will improve the occupational
mobility of women. Meanwhile, lack of mobility limits the indi
vidual’s choice of jobs and makes a woman a less desirable employee
on jobs where travel or probable transfer may be involved.
Most scientific work is concentrated in cities where medical and
industrial laboratories are located or in college or university towns or
cities where scientific research and teaching are carried on. This is
true, for example, of the work of most chemists, engineers, bacteriolo
gists, and physiologists. It is also true of the proportionately large
teaching groups within the fields of botany, zoology, and geography.
The principal exception to this generalization is work which involves
1-52
VARIATIONS IN THE OUTLOOK
1-53
the location, study, or treatment of organisms or objects in their
natural environment, if that environment is limited to certain areas.
The marine biologist, the regional geographer, the field geologist, the
mining engineer, the forester are occupations in which travel to, or
location in, remote places is likely to be characteristic. Women with
limited mobility should avoid such occupations.
In astronomy and meteorology, employment is confined to a rela
tively few centers of research or observation. In geology, where field
work is also a deterrent, employment, except in teaching, is concen-
Wtm
W
Courtesy U. S. Public Health Service
Figure 21.—Medical laboratory technicians at work in a hospital.
trated in the oil-producing States of Texas, California, Louisiana,
Kansas, and Illinois and in Federal and State capitals.
Chemists and bacteriologists, on the other hand, are found in every
large community. Hospitals, medical schools, and public-health
laboratories as well as widely dispersed cjairies and other food plants
and chemical manufacturers employ them. However, quantitatively,
because of the concentration of large manufacturing industries, there
are greater opportunities in some parts of the country than in others.
Before the war, according to the Census, almost three-fourths of all
chemists were employed in the Northeastern or North Central States;
the South ranked third and the West last with one-tenth of the total.
The proportion of women among chemists in the various sections of
1-54
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
the country was highest in the Northeastern States (3.5 percent), and
lowest in the South (2.3 percent). (See Bulletin 223-2 for detail.)
This prewar concentration of employment opportunities for
chemists in the Northeastern and North Central States was confirmed
in the 1943 study of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (36). The State of
New York alone employed 13.5 percent of all chemists; Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, and Illinois ranked next. The Middle Atlantic States
of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania absorbed as many as half
the Ph. D.’s produced in chemistry in the entire country during the
period 1930-1940 (15).
The geographical distribution of the physiologists surveyed in 1945
shows the direct relation of the demand in that field to the location
of medical schools. Nearly one-half of the physiologists were in New
York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, California, and Massachusetts, where
one-third of the country’s medical schools and 42 percent of its medical
students were located. No physiologists were reported from three
other States in which there were no medical schools (9).
Allowances for this type of variation in the location of employment
should be considered by young women who intend to work in a scien
tific field outside of teaching and who are restricted by circumstances
to a given area.
Variations for Women With Special Employment Problems
The difficulties individual women may encounter in entering an oc
cupation are legion and vary with the person and the circumstances
which surround her. But there are four large groups of women who
are likely to encounter special problems in obtaining employment in
most fields. The older woman, the married woman, the Negro woman,
and the woman with a physical handicap often find that their oppor
tunities do not follow the usual pattern.
_
Older Women.—Among those registered in the physical and biolog
ical sciences and in engineering and in architecture with the National
Roster of Scientific and Specialized Personnel at the end of 1946, 325
women and more than 21,000 men were 60 years of age or older. How
ever, the median age of the women in each of these scientific groups
was 7 to 9 years lower than the corresponding median for the men,
which ranged from 35 in the physical-sciences to 48 in architecture,
with the other two groups at 40 (38). This relative youthfulness of
women reflects the greater withdrawals of women before retirement
age, due to marriage and family reasons, rather than lack of oppor
tunity for the older woman already established in her field. In re
search and teaching, there is virtually no age limit for the scientist
with long experience who has kept abreast of new developments in
her field.
VARIATIONS IN THE OUTLOOK
1-55
But the woman who wishes to enter a scientific profession at the age
of 30 or 40 or the one who wishes to reenter after some absence has a
different problem. During the war, the demand for women trained in
science was so great that a woman in the forties who had had any
training in science or engineering or any laboratory experience, re
gardless of its recency, could obtain work, though often at a level
below that of her training. A woman civil engineer, after 25 years
of absence from her profession, for example, returned as a draftsman
with a Federal agency while her husband was in military service.
Many former chemists likewise returned to the laboratory. However,
ordinarily, it is difficult for a woman over 40 to do laboratory work,
whether it be in chemistry, bacteriology, botany, zoology, or geology,
unless she has worked continuously in a laboratory and has retained
her manipulative skill. Even teachers of science may lose this skill
which only daily experience can maintain.
Except in college teaching and in research, which “knows no age
limit" according to one laboratory director, and in which evidence
of work done is the main criterion, young women are definitely pre
ferred to older women for entering jobs both in industrial firms and
Government agencies. Most of the women over 40 and the few over
50 found in the Women’s Bureau study of laboratories had been with
(he same employer for many years. A few had been hired during
the war period, either because they had a certain type of specialized
experience wanted by the employer or because younger women were not
available. The constant standing in most laboratory work, the im
portance of adaptability and of manipulative skills, and the recent and
rapid changes in the sciences are the usual reasons given for preferring
young women. Stamina, spryness, and the ability to withstand in
clement weather are needed in meteorological observation and scien
tific jobs entailing field work, and for this younger persons are pre
ferred. Extreme youthfulness, however, may also be a handicap.
Several employers reported that most of the girls under 21 whom
they had hired for chemical laboratory work during the war were not
as reliable as women over 30, although they were faster. Their turn
over rate was also higher.
Opportunities, then, are good for older women who have worked
continuously as college teachers or as research scientists and who have
kept abreast in their fields. For the less highly trained or less experi
enced woman, they may be limited to her specialty and perhaps to her
employer, if her field is not one for which there is an active demand.
The woman who wishes to return after a considerable absence faces
two obstacles. She must catch up with the many changes the inter
vening years have brought in her field. And she will find laboratory
1-56
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
work both difficult to obtain and difficult to do. Technical library
work, patent searching, or editing are better possibilities for a woman
of this type, if she can qualify for such work.
1 here are always exceptional women and exceptional circumstances,
however. One woman, long out of school, became interested in med
ical laboratory work through the illness of her husband. She took
training in New York and became an outstanding research assistant
in a medical laboratory there. Another, after 15 years of teaching
experience, took a degree in architecture and practiced successfully
until her retirement. To prepare for and enter a scientific field after
the age of 30, however, is seldom desirable for any woman unless she
has had fairly continuous training or experience in a related field such
as medicine, nursing, or the textile or foods phases of home economics.
Married Women.—The fact that many of the women covered in this
study were married indicates that, homemaking can be combined with
Courtesy University of Cincinnati
Figure 22. Among the women scientists who are also homemakers
is this bacteriological research worker whose husband, like herself,
was graduated as a chemical engineer and whose daughter is studying
science.
VARIATIONS IN THE OUTLOOK
1-57
a full-time job in science. No census statistics are available, however,
to show how women in science compare with women physicians or
other occupational groups in this respect.
In chemistry, physics, mathematics, and the biological sciences,
married women usually encounter no special difficulties in obtaining
or retaining employment. For the most part, hours in these fields
are regular,-and the places of employment are distributed throughout
the country. In the smaller fields of astronomy, geology, and geogra
phy, however, the concentration of employment opportunities in cer
tain locations may be a factor in reducing the married woman’s oppor
tunity for employment in her field, since the location of her home is
likely to be determined by her husband’s employment. The field work
required from time to time in geology or geography also may handicap
the married woman responsible for the maintenance of her home as
well as her job.
In meteorological Government and air-line stations where fore
casters are often required to work at night and on rotating shifts, a
married woman would find the schedule difficult. However, those
engaged in research or teaching would have more regular hours like
other college instructors or research workers. In fact, science teach
ing at the college level apparently combines well with marriage. In
secondary-school teaching, the restrictions against married women
observed in some communities before the war have greatly diminished
in view of the shortage of well-qualified teachers, which has been
especially acute in science and mathematics.
Women in scientific work frequently marry men in the same
line of work. One employer said that a chemistry laboratory is a
most fertile field for marriage, because men chemists are too serious
and absorbed in their work to engage in much purely social activity
and are likely to marry intelligent, attractive girls employed in the
laboratory. In geology and astronomy and in field work jobs in the
sciences, marriage to a scientist in the same field enables a woman
to continue the practice of her profession and often to do field
work that would otherwise be difficult to arrange. There is also
convincing proof that 'marriage and engineering can be combined.
Of the dozen women listed in Who’s Who in Engineering, four are
married, and three of these have at some time carried on joint pro
fessional activities with their engineer-husbands.
Most of the employers of scientific workers interviewed by a rep
resentative of the Women’s Bureau in 1946 and 1947 reported that
marriage made no difference in the status of women employed in
scientific or technical work, except that it increased the likelihood
of turn-over, particularly in the younger group. In hiring, other
qualifications being equal, they would prefer a young single woman.
1-58
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
However, one expressed a definite preference for stable, married
women; another preferred women, single or married, who “had de
pendents and would stick to the job better.” Almost all indicated
that the comparatively rare woman who had shown by her training
and her work that she was seriously interested in science as a career
would be employed regardless of her marital status.
That marriage also does not prevent the attainment of distinc
tion in science is indicated by the fact that some of the outstanding
women scientists in the country are married. Many of the women
listed in American Men of Science and in the Chemical Who’s Who,
for example, are married. Three of the five women who received
postdoctoral National Research Council fellowships in chemistry in
the period 1919 to 1938 were married, as were 5 of the 14 who re
ceived similar fellowships in zoology {22).
Negro Women.—Negro women face many problems not only in secur
ing employment in the field of science but in obtaining adequate
training. Although most of the 32 Negro colleges included in a
1942—43 study offered courses in biology, chemistry, physics, and
mathematics, these courses were reported to be usually unrelated to
vocational objectives except in the premedical curriculum [33).
Courses in geology and astronomy were rare. Negro women inter
ested in advanced training have often been limited in their selection
to a few Negro universities, or to women’s colleges and State uni
versities or other coeducational schools in the North with larger
departments of science.
Only 48 women were among the 368 Negroes who received a Ph. D.
in the years from 1876 to 1943, according to a recent study {13).
About one-fourth of the 368 doctorates were in science, but only a
few of these were awarded to women. Most of the 58 doctorates
granted in the physical sciences were in chemistry; physics and
mathematics accounted for most of the others'. Only one Negro
woman, who received her degree in geology, was among those receiv
ing the doctorate in a physical science. However, at least one other
has since been awarded the Ph. D. in mathematics.
Most of the 35 Ph.D.’s granted to Negroes in the biological
sciences were in zoology and biology, with a few* in bacteriology,
physiology, and botany. At least four Negro women are known to
have earned the doctorate in the biological sciences. A larger num
ber have earned master’s or bachelor’s degrees with a science major,
but no statistics are available on their number.
Negro women who have secured graduate training in science find
opportunity for employment largely in high-school and college teach
ing. In a count made by the Women’s Bureau in 1947 of women on
college faculties in science, 50 women were found listed in the catalogs
VARIATIONS IN THE OUTLOOK
1-59
Sim§i
:
lllsgl
Courtesy Miner Teachers College
Figure 23—A geologist and associate professor of geography who has
the distinction of being the first woman and the first Negro to receive
a doctor’s degree in geology at Catholic University of America.
1-60
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
of 31 Negro colleges which were considered by the United States
Office of Education as representative in their enrollment of the 105
Negro institutions of this type in the United States. Seven of the
women held professorial appointments, ranging from that of assist
ant professor to that of full professor. The others were either assist
ants or instructors.
One-third of the women were teaching two or more subjects.
Biology and mathematics alone or in combination with another sub
ject accounted for two-thirds of all the teachers, while only one-sixth
taught a physical science. If the faculties of these 31 schools are
1 ruly representative of all Negro institutions of higher education in
the United States, approximately 169 women were teaching science
or mathematics in Negro colleges and universities in 1946-47. A
larger, but unknown, number of Negro women were teaching at the
secondary-school level. The high proportion entering high-school
teaching is indicated by the employment of 26 women \ylio were
graduated by Howard University in the years 1940 to 1946 with a
master’s degree in botany, chemistry, mathematics, or zoology. Eleven
went into liigh-school teaching, six into college teaching, four into
the (Tovernment, two into hospital laboratories, and the remaining
three took miscellaneous positions or married.
Opportunities, other than teaching, for Negro women trained in
chemistry or the biological sciences have been most numerous in hos
pital or other medical laboratories where they have served as tech
nicians. A fewr have taken further training for such related fields as
medicine or pharmacy.
Although industry and Government have been difficult fields for
Negro scientists to enter, Negro women are known to be employed
as seed analysts, technicians, or chemists in at least two regional lab
oratories of the Federal Government and in one laboratory in Wash
ington, D. C. In one of the industrial firms visited in the course
of this study, one hegro woman with a college degree in chemistry
was employed as a chemical tester on control work in steel. A mid
west university in 1946 placed with an oil company a young Negro
woman chemist who was married and whose husband wTas studying
medic me. An unknow n number of Negro women took chemistry
courses under the Engineering, Science, and Management War Train
ing program and worked in war industries. One who took a 10-week
analytical chemistry course at a woman’s college under this program
was reported to be a “whizz on carbons.”
Although there were only about 300 Negro chemists, 240 Negro
engineers, and about 80 Negro architects reported in the Census of
1940 (34), there are opportunities for Negro men and women trained
in these fields. A prewar study of Negro men chemists indicated
VARIATIONS IN THE OUTLOOK
1-61
that, besides those in teaching, at least 40 were employed in 1940 in
various types of laboratories, one serving as a director (51). In 1946,
the National Technical Association, an organization of Negroes en
gaged in scientific or engineering fields, had more than 500 members,
most of them in engineering (€). Although women in these fields
are rare, at least one Negro woman has received a bachelor’s degree
in civil engineering from Howard University. As more Negro engi
neers practice, positions as office engineers may open up for the few
women who may train for this field in the future. Two or three
Negro women were employed as draftsmen in one of the Federal
agencies in 1947. A few Negro women have also been successful in
architecture, a field in which, in 1946-47, five women students at
Howard University were majoring.
However, the Negro woman who would seek employment in a
scientific field must have thorough training in order to compete with
men of richer scientific backgrounds. The costs of scientific training
are high, but scholarships and assistantships are available to students
of outstanding ability. A recent article on Financial Aids for Edu
cation and Chemical Research lists a number of scholarships and
fellowships, for which Negro students are eligible, such as the Julius
Rosenwald fellowships, the General Education Board fellowships, and
the Guggenheim Memorial fellowships (1■2).
Women with Physical Handicaps.—The free use of elbows, hands, and
fingers, as well as good enough vision to read measured distances on
scaled laboratory equipment, and the ability to distinguish basic colors
and shades are required of men and women taking certain civil service
examinations, as laboratory worker, for example, in the field of
chemistry. Ability to hear others in the laboratory with ease is also
important in most, but not all, laboratory work. In a foods labora
tory visited by a representative of the Women’s Bureau in 1946, a
hard-of-hearing woman chemist who could read lips was employed.
A totally deaf entomologist who could read lips was also found em
ployed in a biological supply house.
Although most laboratory work requires much standing and moving
about, some routine jobs can be handled from stools, and crippled
persons may be employed at this sort of work. Two pharmaceutical
firms reported the satisfactory employement of lame girls as labora
tory technicians or helpers. Of course, in the office phases of engi
neering and architecture, in drafting, and in mathematical work,
limitation of movement and deafness would be much less of a handi
cap than in most laboratory work. The Coast and Geodetic Survey
in 1946 employed one woman and one man draftsman with hand
injuries, usually a much more serious work handicap than a leg
injury. In scientific work involving field service, however, such as
1-62
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
that often characteristic in geology, forestry, and geography, lack of
mobility is a serious handicap. Teaching, the editing of reports, and
technical library work are good outlets for persons with scientific
experience who become limited in their movement by poliomyelitis
or similar handicaps. Two men with polio handicaps were found
employed as technical librarians in the laboratories visited.
For those who have physical conditions requiring frequent check
ing, such as certain types of cardiac or tuberculosis cases, employment
in a hospital or other medical laboratory under controlled conditions
would be more desirable than work in industry. Of course, consulta
tion with a physician or a rehabilitation specialist is advisable for a
woman with a physical handicap who is interested in scientific work.
Good vision and good health are perhaps the two most important
physical qualifications in most types of scientific work, which inevi
tably involves the ability to observe accurately and the stamina to
persevere at a difficult task, regardless of circumstances.
SUGGESTIONS TO GIRLS AND WOMEN INTERESTED
IN SCIENTIFIC WORK
“Shall I prepare for a job in science?” This question will be asked
countless times in the future as it has been asked in the past by starryeyed, serious young women.
Some of them will be told, “That’s no field for a woman.” Others
may be advised, “Of course! Don’t let anyone stop you. You may
become a second Marie Curie.” Between these two extremes lies the
broad realm of possiblity, as shown in the expanding variety of
scientific work in which women are engaged.
Exploration and Choice
This is a realm that each individual must examine for herself as
early as possible, selecting the probable areas which interest her most,
Courtesy National Association of Biology Teachers
Figure 24.—The microscope reveals a new world to this high school
biology student.
1-63
1-64
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
using the charts and reports based on the experience of those who
have gone before. The information given in the bulletins in this
series and in those on occupations in the medical and other health
services (Women’s Bureau Bulletins 203-1 through 203-12) should be
useful in this exploration. But they should be supplemented by cur
rent reports, first-hand whenever possible, from women and men
engaged in scientific work or in the training or employment of
scientific personnel.
The autobiographies of women who have achieved public recogni
tion in the sciences accent the heights that may be attained. Brief
biographical summaries of the more than 2,000 successful women
included in the 1944 edition of American Men of Science show that no
one scientific field has a monopoly on opportunities for women to
earn distinction (5). This is shown in the distribution of the 1,686
women who listed themselves primarily in one of the principal scien
tific fields covered in tins study. (See table 7.)
Table 7.—Distribution of Women Listed in American Men of Science, by Scientific
Field, 1944 1
Scientific field
Number
Total_____________________________________ ____
Percent
1,686
100.0
Bacteriology
Biology, general (exclusive of bacteriology, botany, zoology)
35
122
108
2.1
7.2
6.4
Botanical Science____ _____ ____________________________
270
16.0
General botany___________________________ _ ______
_
Plant physiology and pathology
_______________
Agricultural plant sciences including forestry_________
222
40
8
13. 1
2.4
.5
Chemistry___ _____ ______________
Engineering______________________
Geography__________ ____ ________
Geology ______________________ ___
Mathematics (exclusive of statistics)
Physics__________________________
430
5
16
55
163
92
25.5
.3
.9
3.3
9. 7
5.5
Zoological Science____
386
22.9
244
103
38
14.5
Astronomy_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
•
General zoology___
Physiology_______
Pathology_______
Animal husbandry.
Miscellaneous sciences--.
_________
6. 1
2.2
1
.
4
.2
1
f This table covers more than H of all the women listed. An additional 489 women gave as their principal
fields: Medicine, psychology, education, social science, or other categories not included in this bulletin.
Source: American Men of Science, 1944 (5).
The prevalence of Ph.D.’s among the women listed in American
Men of Science and the records of their experience show the length of
ihe road and the consistency of effort that are required to reach the
heights. Even genius is not spared the discipline and drudgery
required for success in science, as the years of devoted work of Marie
and Pierre Curie in their makeshift laboratory show (<§). The rigors
SUGGESTIONS TO WOMEN INTERESTED
1-65
of the journey to the top require not only aptitude for science but strong
motivation, courage, and stamina.
The prominence of the great men and women in science, like the
peaks on a relief map, attracts attention away from the plains and the
plateaus, where the majority of women trained in science are working.
But the seeker will find great variety in the landscape and more than
one location suited to her interests and abilities.
The wide range of the sciences, the specializations within each scien
tific field, the variations in types of work and in employing agencies
(as indicated in the bulletins in this series) multiply the possibilities
for a potential worker in science but also complicate the problem of
her choice. The earlier the potential young scientist examines herself
and her limitations in relation to the varied possibilities, the more
surely will she arrive, prepared and ready for useful work, at a location
that suits her and her circumstances.
She can narrow down the territory she wishes to explore more
thoroughly by certain eliminations. Some may be on the basis of
required abilities, the possession or lack of which may be verified with
the assistance of counselors, teachers, and others qualified to supply
perspective on her abilities in relation to those of others. Other elim
inations may be on the basis of personal circumstances and preferences,
such as the necessity or desire to work near home, the likelihood of
early marriage and the cessation or interruption of outside work, or
inability to finance the training required.
In weighing one’s circumstances, it is important not to let present
handicaps obscure future possibilities. The scientifically talented
young woman who changes from a scientific to a business course in
high school only because she does not at that time see any possibility
of a scholarship in college places unnecessary limits on her future. It
is usually possible, with careful planning, to face the immediate situ
ation without turning one’s back completely on the ultimate goal.
For example, the would-be chemical or medical laboratory tech
nician who has the required ability and aptitude but cannot go to
college immediately may continue with her science and mathematics
courses in high school, adding shorthand and typing to her program
by dropping a nonscience subject, or taking commercial training in
summer school or following graduation. She can probably obtain
stenographic or other clerical work in a chemical or a medical labora
tory. If her interest persists and her health is good, she may complete
her scientific training at night, aided by her daily contact with scien
tific workers and, if she has unusual ability, very possibly by a
scholarship.
1-66
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
A different type of problem is faced by the young woman upon whose
choice there appear to be few limitations. “Not-being-able-to-makeup-one’s-mind” is often more confusing than a complicated set of
handicaps. In this case, a broad basic training including a course in
each of the principal sciences is desirable before specialization. This
should of course be supplemented by the many other types of ex
ploratory experiences in school and out. If there is still no significant
difference in interest or ability, and there are no limiting circumstances
which indicate that the likelihood of satisfying employment is greater
in one field than in another, then any one of the fields will be suitable.
A “flip-of-the-coin” choice is never a substitute for exploration, but
it may well be used to hasten a decision between a number of equally
suitable fields. There is a point, which varies with the individual,
when specialized preparation should start. To postpone that prepara
tion because of a variety of possibilities is as foolish as not embarking
on a holiday trip because there are so many equally attractive places
to go.
Preparation
Once the choice of scientific field has been made, the problem be
comes primarily one of preparation. The omission of an essential tool
or working knowledge required for the journey is likely to produce
crises later on. The usual minimum training required in the different
fields as well as the additional preparation that is desirable have been
discussed in the other bulletins in this series and in other sources to
which they refer.
One’s college should be selected with careful consideration for the
work it offers in the scientific field chosen or in the potential fields from
which a later choice is to be made. Some 700 of the schools of higher
education in the United States grant bachelor’s degrees in science (4£).
But there are wide differences in scientific curricula among them.
Some offer a wide variety of sciences but few advanced courses. Others
offer outstanding training in one science and scant training in another.
Some supply a broad undergraduate background looking toward
specialization at the graduate level; others provide for specialization
at the undergraduate level. There is no magic formula for selecting
a suitable school on the basis of size or location or any other factor or
combination of factors. The catalogs, supplemented by reports of
faculty, graduates, and students, must be studied in relation to one’s
purpose.
Within each field, the required as well as the desired preparation
varies according to the employer. A fairly early decision as to type
of work (teaching, research, technical assisting, etc.) and as to type
SUGGESTIONS TO WOMEN INTERESTED
1-67
of employer (industrial, Government, educational institution, medical
institution, etc.) is helpful in obtaining desirable preparation. For
example, the young woman who is interested in the Federal Civil
Service should remember that 30 semester hours of science is the usual
minimum required for a beginning scientific professional position, and
that those with 50 to 60 hours in the sciences are preferred. If industry
is one’s goal, then it is wise to overcome the usual handicaps of women
by acquiring a knowledge of industrial operations, of engineering
problems and methods, of mathematics and statistics, of mechanical
equipment, language, and tools. For teaching high-school science, it
is more important to know how to teach the elements of a variety of
sciences and of mathematics and to have the usually required training
in the field of education, than to have intensive preparation at the
graduate level in one or more sciences. But the latter is desirable in
college teaching.
Except in engineering, a doctor’s degree is becoming an essential
for professional and research appointments in all scientific fields. It
is customary to expect faculty assistants and instructors who do not
possess the degree to work toward it. Some 90 universities supply
Sill#
mlm
Sf ■*“ *
Courtesy University of Cincinnati
Figure 2 5.—An electrical engineering student explores industrial work
on her cooperative job in an electrical manufacturing plant. Here
she is working at an instrument board testing transformers.
1-68
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
virtually all the doctorates awarded in science (#?). Care in plan
ning and in the selection of a school is even more important for post
graduate students than it is for the undergraduate. Mistakes at this
scarcity level are more costly in terms of expense to the student and
to society.
There are wide variations of viewpoint among educators as to the
desirable content and scope of graduate education (15). But there is
apparent agreement that individualized study in the major field should
be integrated with supporting activities. This is especially true in
(he sciences, where the relationships both within the sciences and with
other fields of study are becoming more complex. Although the uni
versity can facilitate integration, more depends on clear thinking,
planning, and adaptation on the part of the student. Foresighted
young women will be rewarded later for their ingenuity in keeping
their preparation in line with current needs while basing it on a
solid foundation which facilitates later adjustments as they become
necessary.
All women planning to work in science would do well to take courses
that will make them proficient in technical report writing, in library
research methods and the preparation of bibliographies, in the han
dling and use of laboratory equipment, and in the accurate application
of mathematics and statistics to their field of work. Languages—
particularly French, German, Spanish, and Bussian—are also de
sirable for those planning to engage in research or in technical library
work. The ability to type and to take notes in shorthand is valuable
in most laboratory work; it may also be the deciding qualification in
obtaining a desired job, in competition with someone otherwise equally
qualified.
Obtaining Employment
Working into the kind of scientific work one wants to do is usually
a gradual process, not an event that happens miraculously at the end
of undergraduate or graduate training. But the first job is impor
tant, since it is the vantage point from which future journeys upward
or about the realm of science will take place. In some jobs there are
distinct handicaps. Only exceptional young women, for example,
will find it possible to obtain, or to advance from, jobs which include
field work (especially in isolated areas), arduous outdoor assignments
in all types of weather, night-shift work, the lifting of large or heavy
objects, or other work for which men are ordinarily preferred. On the
other hand, it is relatively easy for women to obtain employment re
quiring painstaking and accurate recording, fine dexterity, writing
or abstracting, since many employers say they prefer women for such
work.
SUGGESTIONS TO WOMEN INTERESTED
1-69
-I1
Courtesy Ohio State University
Figure 26.—A geology student on a field trip in Utah mapping at the
plane table while her fellow-students do the rod work and note
taking.
There are also differences in demand and in opportunity in particu
lar types of establishments. The young mathematician may find a
job in a small chemical company, but she is more likely to find em
ployment and advancement in a utility or an electrical manufacturing
company. Knowledge of where jobs are most numerous in the field
of one’s interest is a useful guide.
Hurdles
To obtain employment, and certainly to advance in scientific work,
women must usually surmount certain hurdles. First, the employer
must be convinced of one’s value. Then, if one is hired, demonstra
tion through performance is required. Except on the few scientific
jobs where women are definitely preferred, a woman is believed by most
employers to be a less desirable employee than a man of equivalent
experience and training. There are a number of minor reasons given
by employers which vary with the type of work and workplace. But
the principal reasons are usually stated as follows: A woman is more
likely than a man to interrupt her employment because of marriage
or home responsibilities. If she stays, the range of her potential use
fulness to the organization is believed to be more limited than that
of the average male. Some of the reasons for this belief have already
1-70
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
been mentioned in the bulletins in this series on engineering and
chemistry (Nos. 223-2 and 223-5).
The fact that most employers hold these opinions must be faced by
the woman who seeks employment in science, whether or not she agrees
with their general validity or in their particular application to
herself. Her strategy is to furnish reasonable evidence that she may
be an exception to the general rule, or to balance her supposed liabili
ties with additional assets. To prove that she is an exception, she
needs a convincing sincerity and the appearance and manner of a
serious, responsible person who acts with consideration for the total
effect of her actions.
Her position will be stronger if those who have known her well,
especially employers, college professors, deans of women, counselors,
and others, can say with conviction, “You can depend on Miss X to
take her job obligations seriously. She will never let you down in an
emergency. You have my assurance that you will receive full return
for your investment in her and that she will be a reliable and valuable
member of your staff.”
On the other hand, the young woman who has no intention of fol
lowing a career in science through most of her life should not pretend
to be exceptional in this regard. If she does, she not only adds to her
own risks in case she should need employment later, but she does
irreparable harm to other women. Employers are likely to generalize
from the poor record of even one woman in scientific work, where
their experience in the employment of women is relatively little.
The best course for the woman who intends to work in science only
for a limited time is to be frank with herself and with her employer
about her intentions: to seek the kind of work in which long service
is not expected. Her immediate rather than her potential usefulness
should then be emphasized. Offsetting the investment in her training,
she can offer additional assets—skill in report-writing, stenographic
experience, an unusual combination of scientific training, unusual
accuracy on work requiring patience, ability to draft or draw, a
special knowledge of the work done in the particular establishment.
The value of any one asset to the employer, of course, will vary with
the organization with which he is connected. Some prior knowledge
should be obtained of the peculiarities of a particular establishment
which will guide one in making the selection of employers to whom to
apply. This can be gained from published descriptions and
directories, or it may be learned from others who work there, or
by observation.
Satisfaction and Success
An unusual specialty or an unusual combination of training increases
the likelihood for success as well as for initial employment. For
SUGGESTIONS TO WOMEN INTERESTED
1-71
example, thorough training in a science and a knowledge of home
economics is a combination not likely to be possessed by a man and
is valuable in many industries making products for home use. Chem
istry, physics, or engineering combined with home economics are
Courtesy U. S. Department of Agriculture
Figure 27.—A chemist, engaged in textile research, preparing to mount
a sample of treated cotton fabric for a water repellency test.
1-72
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
especially useful. Some of the related fields in which competition
with men for jobs is relatively small, such as technical library work,
have been discussed in some detail in Bulletin 223-8.
Although specialties may be counted on to hasten employment or
advancement, they are no substitute either for performance on the job
or for the attitude toward one’s work that distinguishes one who has
a “profession.” This attitude arises from the humbling knowledge
of how much there always is to be learned. It is nurtured by associa
tion with others who have worked or are working in the same field,
through reading what they have written, listening to what they say,
working with them on common problems, and discussing problems and
solutions at meetings of professional societies.
Instead of being overwhelmed by the size of the territory she can
never hope to explore completely, and struck powerless by indecision,
the young woman truly interested in science will make up her mind
to do the best and most thorough job she can in a field which she may
limit according to her talent, training, and circumstances. A few
women, like a few men who may go through life without financial or
personal responsibility for the nurture or care of others in their fami
lies, may compensate for their lack of contribution to society through
their families by devoting an extraordinary amount of time and energy
to their scientific work. A few women, like a few men, because of
exceptional gifts of health and talent and the cooperation of their
families, may pass the benefit of these gifts on to society by unusual
contributions to scientific knowledge combined with a normal share
of family and civic responsibility. For the average college woman
interested in science whose work outside her home is interrupted there
remains the challenge of relating her homemaking experiences to her
interest in science and of deciding how much of her leisure or hobby
time to devote to her scientific interest. An hour a day on exercises
or problems planned to retain the skills and knowledge needed in her
field is not a complete substitute for part-time or full-time employ
ment, but it may be an insurance against a complete loss of skill.
Whether or not she returns to full-time scientific work ultimately,
she will have enjoyed the insurance of retaining employability in
her field and will very probably have used her knowledge and her
training to some advantage in her homemaking and other capacities.
She can aid her own and other children in their initial exploration
in the field of science.
Although there is no statistical evidence that most women in science
come from families in which they have had unusual opportunity or
encouragement in developing their interest, it is not unusual to find a
scientist, physician, or engineer in the family of young women who are
SUGGESTION'S TO WOMEN INTERESTED
1-73
interested in science. One great obligation and opportunity for
women who enter scientific work is to make less difficult the journey
of those who come after. This some thousands of women are already
doing thorough successful performance on their jobs, thereby establish
ing a reputation for women for good, solid work. In addition, some
who have the gift of writing or speaking or teaching are telling young
women what needs to be done in science, what it takes to do it, and how
to do it. And all can add their influence to insure that every girl who
has the interest and capacity to do so may have full opportunity to
explore the realm of science and the chance to plan her life course in
that direction.
Madame Curie, who had the humility that characterizes the truly
great, has put the goal simply: “We cannot hope to build a better
world without improving the individual. Toward this end, each of
us must work toward his own highest development, accepting at the
same time his share of responsibility in the general life of humanity—
our particular duty being to help those to whom we feel we can be
most useful” (8).
SOURCES TO WHICH REFERENCE IS MADE IN THE TEXT
(1) Adolph, E. F. Future physiology. Section V. Physiology in North Amer
ica, 1945. Survey hy a Committee of the American Physiological Society.
Federation proceedings 3: 432-36, September 1946.
(2) Alexander, A. A. Engineering as a profession. Opportunity 24:60-62.
April-June 1946.
(3) American Chemical Society. The economic status of members of the Amer
ican Chemical Society. Approved report of the Committee on Economic
Status. Prepared by Andrew Fraser, Jr. Washington, D. C., the Society,
1942. (Reprinted from Chemical Engineering News, vol. 20: Nos 20
22,23,24.) 1942. 39 pp.
(4) Boyd, T. E. Economics, Section III. Physiology in North America, 1945.
Federation proceedings 3 : 422-28, September 1946.
(5) Cat.tell, Jaques, Ed, American Men of Science, A Biographical Directory.
Lancaster, Pa., Science Press, 1944. 2033 pp.
(6) Chester, K. Starr. National requirement and availability of botanists.
American journal of botany 34 : 240-43, April 1947.
(7) Compton, Karl T. Scientific and engineering progress—insurance against
aggression and depression. Chemical and engineering news 24: 1328-32,
May 25, 1946,
(8) Curie, Eve. Madame Curie: a biography. Translated by Vincent Sheean.
Garden City, New York, Garden City Publishing Co., Inc., 1943. 393 pp.
(9) Dow, Philip. The identification and analysis of the North American popu
lation of physiologists. Section II. Physiology in North America, 1945.
Survey by a Committee of the American Physiological Society. Federa
tion proceedings 3: 417-22, September 1946.
(10) Edgerton, Harold A., and Britt, Steuart Henderson. The Science Talent
Search in relation to educational and economic indices. School and
society 63 :172-75, Mar. 9, 1946.
(11) Engineers Joint Council. The engineering profession in transition. A
report of the Engineers Joint Council Committee on the 1946 survey of
the engineering profession. By Andrew Fraser.
New York, N. Y„ tlie
Council, 33 West 39th St., 1947. 94 pp.
(12) Ferguson, Lloyd N. Financial aids for education and chemical research.
Beta Kappa Chi bulletin 5: 16-23, January 1947.
(13) Greene, Harry Washington. Holders of Doctorates among American
Negroes. An educational and social study of Negroes who have earned
Doctoral degrees in course, 1876-1943. Boston, Mass., Meador Publishing
Company, 1946. 275 pp.
(14) Hochwalt, Carroll A. The outlook for industrial research. Chemical and
engineering news 24 : 2183, Aug. 25,1946.
(15) Hollis, Ernest V. Toward improving Pli. D. programs. Washington, D. C.,
American Council on Education, 1945. 204 pp.
(16) Horsey, Eleanor F. and Price, Donna. Science out of petticoats. Journal
of the American Association of University Women 40:13-16, Fall 1946.
1-74
SOURCES
1-75
(17) Hull, Callie and Timms, Mary. Research supported by industry through
scholarships, fellowships, and grants. Chemical and engineering news
24: 2346-58, Sept, 10, 1946.
(18) Institute of Women’s Professional Relations. Fellowships and other aids
for advanced work. Compiled by Mary M. Pendergrast. New London,
Conn., the Institute, Research Headquarters, Connecticut College, 1947.
471 pp.
(19) National Education Association, Research Division. Salaries of city-school
employees, 1946-47. Washington, D. C„ the Association, 1947. 23 pp.
(Research bulletin, vol. XXV, No. 1, February 1947.)
(20) National Research Council. Handbook of scientific and technical societies
and institutions of the United States and Canada. Washington, D. C.,
National Research Council, 1942. 389 pp. (Bulletin No. 106, January
1942. Fourth Edition.)
(21) ------ . Industrial research laboratories of the United States. 8th Ed. 1946.
By Callie Hull. Washington, D. C., the Council, 1946. 415 pp. (Bulletin
No. 113, July 3946.)
(22) ------ . National research fellowships, 1919-38. Physical sciences, geology,
geography, medical sciences, biological sciences. Washington, D. C., the
Council, 1938. 95 pp.
(23) Patterson, Margaret E. Lack of technical personnel is most serious deficit.
Washington, D. C., 1946. Reprint from Science Service’s Weekly Science
Page, 1 p.
(24) Postwar engineering can provide more goods at less cost. Scientific Ameri
can 171: 225-26, November 1944.
(25) Raymond, F. E. Research and its place in the world of tomorrow. Special
libraries 32:197-201, July-August 1943.
(26) Read, Thomas T. Careers in the mineral industries. New York, N. Y.,
American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, 1941. 31 pp.
(27) Science Clubs of America. How you can search for science talent. Wash
ington, D. C., 1947. 23 pp.
(28) Sedgwick, W. T. A short history of science. Revised by H. W. Tyler and
R. P. Bigelow. New York, N. Y, the Macmillan Co, 1939. 512 pp.
(Ttev. Ed.)
(29) Smith, Lee Irvin. Problems in postwar education. Chemical and engi
neering news 23 : 338 44, Feb. 25, 1945.
(30) Stevens, Raymond. Some trends in research. Industrial and engineering
chemistry 36 : 388-90, May 1944.
(31) Trytten, M. H. The future supply of scientific personnel. Mechanical engi
neering 68:123-6-f, February 1946.
(32) ------ . National security and the training of chemists. Chemical and engi
neering news 25 : 499-502, Feb. 24, 1947.
(33) Turner, T. W. Science teaching in Negro colleges. Journal of Negro edu
cation 15:36-42, Winter 1946.
(34) U. S. Department of Commerce, U. S. Bureau of the Census. 16th Census,
1940. U. S. Summary. Population. Vol. III. The labor force. Part 1.
Washington, U. S. Government printing office, 1943. Tables 58, 62.
(35) U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of La)tor Statistics. Employment out
look for architects. Washington, the Bureau, October 1945. 1 p. Mimeo.
(36) -------------. Factors affecting earnings in chemistry and chemical engineer
ing. By Cora E. Taylor, under the supervision of Harold Goldstein.
Washington, U. S. Government printing office, 1946. 22 pp. (BLS Bulle
tin No. 881.)
1-76
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
(37) ------ . U. S. Employment Service, National Roster of Scientific and Special
ized Personnel. Directory of colleges and universities offering graduate
degrees and some form of graduate aid. Washington, D. C., the Roster,
January 1946. 42 pp.
(38) ---------------------- . Distribution of Roster registrants, December 31, 1946.
Washington, the Roster, 1947. 5 pp. Multi.
(39)----------------------. Faculty members and students in institutions of higher
education, December 1942. Washington, the Roster. Final report, June
15, 1943. Chart. Multi.
(40) (U. S.) Federal Security Agency, U. S. Office of Education. Biennial
surveys of education in the United States, 1938-40 and 1940-42. Vol.
II, Chapter IV. Statistics of higher education 1939-40 and 1941—42.
Washington, U. S. Government printing office, 1944. 295 pp.
(Sec
Table XII p. 17.)
(41) —— ——. Engineering, science, and management war training. Final
report. By Henry H. Armsby. Washington, U. S'. Government printing
office, 1946. 149 pp. Bulletin 1946, No. 9.
(42) --------------. Vocational-technical training for industrial occupations. Re
port of the Consulting Committee on Vocational-Technical Training Ai>pointed by the U. S. Commissioner of Education. Washington, U. S.
Government printing office, 1944. 307 pp. (Vocational Division bul
letin no. 228. Vocational-Technical Training Series No. 1.)
(43) IT. S. National Resources Planning Board. Research—a national resource.
Part II. Industrial research, December 1940. Washington, U. S.
Government printing office, 1941. 369 pp.
(44) U. S. Office of Scientific Research and Development. Science, the endless
frontier. A report to the President by Vannevar Bush, July 1945.
Washington, U. S. Government printing office, 1945. 184 pp.
(45) (U. S.) President’s Scientific Research Board. Science and public policy.
Vol. 1. A program for the nation. By John R. Steelman. Washing
ton, U. S. Government printing office, Aug. 22, 1947. 73 pp.
(46) ------------- . Vol. 2. The Federal research program. By John R. Steelman,
Washington, U. S. Government printing office. Sept. 27, 1947. 318 pp.
(47) ------------- . Vol. 3. Administration for research. By John R. Steelman.
Washington, U. S. Government printing office, Oct. 4. 1947. 324 pp.
(48) ------ ------ . Vol. 4. Manpower for research. By John R. Steelman.
Washington, U. S. Government printing office, Oct. 11, 1947. 166 pp.
(49) (U. S.) Senate. 80th Congress. 1st Session. Calendar No. 76, Report
No. 78. National Science Foundation report to accompany S526.
(50) Vagtborg, Harold. Industrial research pattern of the United States.
Chemical and engineering news 23:1943-45, 2055, Nov. 10, 1945.
(51) Woods, L. L. The Negro in chemistry. School and society 52: 11-12, July
6, 1940.
INDEX
[The numeral 1, indicating the volume in the series, is not shown in the page references of the index]
Page
Actuary______________________
48
Administration_______________
61
Agriculture, _ 3, 4, 22, 23, 37, 38, 48, 64
Agronomy____________________
48
Aid, engineering11,26,31,49
Scientific ___
10-11, 26
American Association for the
Advancement of Science___ 37, 38
American Astronomical Society.
5
American Chemical Society___
5
American Institute of Archi
tects_______________________
5
American Meteorological Asso
ciation_____________________
5
Anatomy_____________________
37
Animal husbandry 4, 5, 48, 64
Anthropology 33, 37, 38
Architecture". 4, 5, 6, 7, 14, 16, 18. 20,
22, 25, 31, 39, 49, 54, 56, 60, 61
Landscape_______ __________
20
Astronomy. _ 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12, 20, 22,
33, 35, 37, 50-51, 53, 57, 58, 64
Astrophysics_________________
2
Bacteriology3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 13, 14,
16,18, 20,21,22,23, 30, 34,37.
39, 47, 48, 52, 53, 55, 56, 58, 64
Biochemistry 2, 3, 13, 33, 37
Biology_______________________
3,
' 12, 13, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23,
25, 27, 30, 33, 35, 38, 40, 44,
47-48, 53, 54, 57, 58, 60, 63, 64
General____ 4, 5, 6, 7, 18, 20, 22, 47
Marine________________
53
Biophysics_______________
2
Botanical Society of America. _
5
Botany3, 5, 6, 7,
" 18, 20, 22, 37, 52, 55, 58, 60, 64
General4, 5, 47, 64
Cartography_____________
50
Ceramics_________________
13
Chemistry (see also biochemmistry; engineering, chemical)
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14,
18, 19, 20,21,22,23, 24,25,
28, 30, 33, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40,
46, 47, 50, 52, 53, 54, 55,
58, 60, 61, 64, 65, 71.
Analytical 13, 46, 60
Inorganic_____________
13
Organic__________________
Physical_______________
13
Page
Clerical work, scientific or tech
nical------------------------------------- 48,65
Computing 39, 48, 49
Dentistry 2, 26
Drafting............. 11,26,49,55,61,70
Architectural_______________
11
Earnings.*______________________ 34^36
Editing, scientific or technical. _
8,
18, 22, 46, 49, 50, 56, 62
Engineering_________________
2,
4, 5, 6,7,9, 12, 13, 14, 16,18,20,
22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31,
34. 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43,
44, 48, 49, 52, 54, 55, 57, 60,
61, 64, 67, 71.
Chemical2, 13, 33, 56
Civil 16, 39, 55, 61
Electrical__________________
67
Mechanical_________________
11
Mining and metallurgical. 11, 13,53
Plant
8, 9
Engineers Joint Council_______
5
Entomology11, 12, 22, 41, 61
Food technology 13, 56
Forestry 5, 11, 48, 53, 62, 64
Geobotany___________________
2
Geography___________________
3,
4, 5, 6, 7, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 37,
38, 50, 52, 53, 57, 59, 62, 64
Geological Society of America..
5
Geology---------------------------------3,
4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 16, 20, 22, 23,
27, 37, 38, 50, 53, 55, 57, 58,
59, 62, 64, 69.
Horne economics56, 71
Horticulture__________________
48
Housing______________________
49
2,
16,
27,
43,
57,
Illustration, scientific or tech
nical________________ _ 8, 18, 19, 22
International Federation of
Architects, Engineers, and
Technicians (CIO)__________
38
Librarian, scientific or tech
nical _____________________
8,
13
13, 16, 18. 22, 46, 56, 62, 68, 72
Licensing and registration____
25
1-77
1-78
INDEX
Page
Mathematics_________________
2,
4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21,
22, 24, 20, 30-31,33, 37, 39, 48,
50, 51, 57, 58, 00, 61, 64, 67,
68, 69.
Medical laboratory work______
8,
14, 23, 32, 35, 41, 42, 46, 47, 48,
52, 53, 54, 56, 60, 62, 65.
Medicine 2, 3, 5, 25, 26,
33, 37, 38, 47, 54, 56, 60, 64
Metallurgy___________________
16
Meteorology4, 5, 6,
7, 12, 16, 20, 22, 51, 53, 55, 57
Microbiology_________________
13
Mineralogy___________________
2
National Academy of Sciences.
37
National Research Council____
4,
5, 16, 27, 30, 37-38, 58
National Roster of Scientific
and Specialized Personnel_
_
5,
6, 7. 18, 20, 30, 54
National Technical Associa
tion
61
Nursing______________________
56
Nutrition (see also food tech
nology) _____________________
38
Oceanography________________
2
Organizations, scientific37-38
Paleontology 2, 37
Patent work 8, 18, 22, 49, 56
Pathology____ 4, 5, 13, 14, 22, 37, 64
Plant 5, 64
Pharmacology________________
13
Pharmacy____________________
60
Photography_________________
13
Physical sciences______________
23,
25, 38, 54, 58, 60
Physics____________________ __
4,
5, 6, 7, 9, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19,
20, 22, 26, 27, 33, 37, 44, 45, 48,
49-50, 57, 58, 64, 71.
Physiology.. _
...
2,3,5,14,
22, 34, 37, 44, 47, 52, 54, 58, 64
Page
Physiology—Continued.
Plant 5,
Planning, city________________
President’s Scientific Research
Board____ 22, 23, 27, 31, 34, 36,
Psychology 33, 37, 38,
64
49
42
64
Scholarships and fellowships__
27,
29-31, 33, 38, 42, 58, 61, 65
Secretarial work, scientific or
technical 18, 46, 70
Seed technology______________
60
Sigma Delta Epsilon 30, 38
Sigma Xi 33, 38
Social sciences 1, 37, 64
Society of American Bacteri
ologists:____________________
5
Statistics 5, 48, 67, 68
Tau Beta Pi38
Teaching. 2, 4, 16, 19, 23, 42, 51, 52,
53, 54, 55, 56, 62, 66, 73
College______ 8, 11, 18, 20, 21, 34,
35, 42, 46, 48, 50, 52, 55, 57,
58, 59, 60, 67.
High school.
8, 21, 34,
36, 46, 48, 50, 57, 58, 60, 67
Textile technology____________
13
Training 2, 3, 9, II,
25-34, 42, 61, 65, 66-68, 70-72
United Office and Professional
Workers of the Congress of In
dustrial Organizations, Tech
nical and Scientific Division..
38
Weather observing____________
51
Women’s military services____
26
Writing, scientific or technical _ 8, 18,
22, 49, 50, 51, 68, 70, 73
Zoology3, 5, 6, 7, 18. 20,
22, 35, 37, 52, 55, 58, 60, 64
General 4, 5, 47, 64
I
CURRENT PUBLICATIONS OF THE WOMEN’S BUREAU
FACTS ON WOMEN WORKERS—issued monthly. 4. pages. (Latest statistics
on employment of women; earnings; labor laws affecting women; news Items of
interest to women workers ; women in the international scene.)
HANDBOOK ON WOMEN WORKERS.
Bull. 225.. (In press.)
EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK AND TRAINING FOR WOMEN
The Outlook for Women in Occupations in the Medical and Other Health Services,
Bull. 203:
1. Physical Therapists. 14 pp. 1945. 100.
2. Occupational Therapists. 15 pp. 1945. 100.
3. Professional Nurses. 66 pp. 1946. 150.
4. Medical Laboratory Technicians. 10 pp. 1945. 100.
5. Practical Nurses and Hospital Attendants. 20 pp. 1945. 100.
6. Medical Record Librarians. 9 pp. 1945. 100.
7. Women Physicians. 28 pp. 1945. 100.
8. X-Ray Technicians. 14 pp. 1945. 100.
9. Women Dentists. 21 pp. 1945. 100.
10. Dental Hygienists. 17 pp. 1945. 100.
11. Physicians’ and Dentists’ Assistants. 15 pp. 1945.
100.
12. Trends and Their Effect upon the Demand for Women Workers. 55 pp.
1946. 150.
The Outlook for Women in Science, Bull. 223 :
1. Science. [General introduction to the series.] (Instant publication.)
2. Chemistry. 65 pp. 1948. 200.
3. Biological Sciences. 87 pp. 1948. 250.
4. Mathematics and Statistics. 21 pp. 1948. 100.
5. Architecture and Engineering. (In press.)
6. Physics and Astronomy. 32 pp. 1948. 150.
7. Geology, Geography, and Meteorology. (In press.)
8. Occupations Related to Science. 33 pp. 1948. 150.
Your Job Future After College. Leaflet. 1947. (Rev. 1948.)
Training for Jobs—for Women and Girls. [Under public funds available for
vocational training purposes.] Leaflet 1. 1947.
EARNINGS
Earnings of Women in Selected Manufacturing Industries, 1946.
14 pp. 1948. 100.
Bull. 219.
EMPLOYMENT
Employment of Women in the Early Postwar Period, with Background of Pre
war and War Data. Bull. 211. 14 pp. 1946. 100.
Women’s Occupations Through Seven Decades. Bull. 218. (In press.)
Women Workers After VJ-Day in One Community—Bridgeport, Conn. Bull. 216.
37 pp. 1947. 150.
1-79
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
1-80
INDUSTRY
Women Workers in Power Laundries. Bull. 215. 71 pp. 1047. 20if.
The Woman Telephone Worker [1944], Bull. 207. 28 pp. 1946. 100.
Typical Women's Jobs in the Telephone Industry [1944], Bull. 207-A.
1947. 150.
Women in Radio. Bull. 222. 30 pp. 1948. 150.
52 pp.
COST OF LIVING BUDGETS
Working Women’s Budgets in Twelve States.
Bull. 226.
(In press.)
LABOR LAWS
Summary of State Labor Laws for Women.
7 pp.
1947.
Mimeo.
Minimum Wage
State Minimum-Wage Laws and Orders, 1942: An Analysis. Bull. 191.
52 pp. 1942. , 200. Supplements through 1947. Mimeo.
State Minimum-Wage Laws. Leaflet 1. 1948.
Map showing States having minimum-wage laws. (Desk size; wall size.)
Equal Pay
Equal Pay for Women. Leaflet 2. 1947. (Rev. 1948.)
Chart analyzing State equal-pay laws and Model Bill. Mimeo. Also com
plete text of State laws (separates). Mimeo.
Selected References on Equal Pay for Women. 9 pp. 1947. Mimeo.
Hours of Work and Other Labor Laws
State Labor Laws for Women, with Wartime Modifications, Dec. 15, 1944.
Bull. 202:
I. Analysis of Hour Laws. 110 pp. 1945. 150.
II. Analysis of Plant Facilities Laws. 43 pp. 1945. 100.
III. Analysis of Regulatory Laws, Prohibitory Laws, Maternity Laws.
12 pp. 1945. 50.
IV. Analysis of Industrial Home-Work Laws. 26 pp. 1945. 100.
V. Explanation and Appraisal. 66 pp. 1946. 150.
Supplements through 1947. Mimeo.
Map of United States showing State hour laws. (Desk size; wall size.)
LEGAL STATUS OF WOMEN
International Documents on the Status of Women. Bull. 217. 116 pp. 1947. 250.
Legal Status of Women in the United States of America:
United States Summary, January 1938. Bull. 157. 89 pp. 1941. 150.
Cumulative Supplement 1938—45. Bull. 157-A. 31 pp. 1946. 100.
Pamphlet for each State and District of Columbia (separates). Bulls. 157-1
through 157—49. 50 ea.
Women’s Eligibility for Jury Duty. Leaflet. 1947.
WOMEN IN LATIN AMERICA
Women Workers in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Bull. 195. 15 pp. 1942. 50.
Women Workers in Brazil. Bull. 206. 42 pp. 1946. 100.
Women Workers in Paraguay. Bull. 210. 16 pp. 1946. 100.
Women Workers in Peru. Bull. 213. 41 pp. 1947. 100.
Social and Labor Problems of Peru and Uruguay. 1944. Mimeo.
Women in Latin America: Legal Rights and Restrictions. (Address before the
National Association of Women Lawyers.)
WOMEN IN SCIENCE
1-81
RECOMMENDED STANDARDS for women’s working conditions, safety and
health:
Standards of Employment for Women. Leaflet 1. 11)4(1. 54 ea. or $2 per 100.
When You Hire Women. Sp. Bull. 14. 16 pp. 1944. 10(1.
The Industrial Nurse and the Woman Worker. Sp. Bull. 19. 47 pp 1944
10 4Women’s Effective War Work Requires Good Posture. Sp. Bull. 10. 6 pp.
1943. 50
Washing and Toilet Facilities for Women in Industry. Sp. Bull. 4 11 pp
1942. 5(1
Lifting and Carrying Weights by Women in Industry. Sp. Bull. 2. Rev.
1942. 12 pp. 5 4.
Safety Clothing for Women in Industry. Sp. Bull. 3. 11 pp. 1941. 104.
Supplements: Safety Caps; Safety Shoes. 4 pp. ea. 1944. 54 ea.
Night Work: Bibliography. 39 pp. 1946. Multilith.
WOMEN UNDER UNION CONTRACTS
Maternity-Benefits under Union-Contract Health Insurance Plans.
19 pp. 1947. 100.
Bull 214
HOUSEHOLD EMPLOYMENT
Old-Age Insurance for Household Employees. Bull. 220. 20 pp. 1947. 100.
Community Household Employment Programs. Bull, 221. 70 pp. 1948. 204.
REPORTS OF WOMEN IN WARTIME
Sixteen reports on women’s employment in wartime industries; part-time em
ployment ; equal pay; community services, recreation, and housing for women
war workers; and the following:
Changes in Women’s Employment During the War. Sp. Bull. 20. 29 pp 1944
10(i.
Women’s Wartime Hours of Work—The Effect on Their Factory Performance
and Home Life. Bull. 20S. 187 pp. 1947. 350
Women Workers in Ten War Production Areas and Their Postwar Employment
Plans. Bull. 209. 56 pp. 1946. 150.
Negro Women War Workers. Bull. 205. 23 pp. 1945. 100
Employment Opportunities in Characteristic Industrial Occupations of Women
Bull. 201. 50 pp. 1944. 100.
Employment and Housing Problems of Migratory Workers in New York and
New Jersey Canning Industries, 1943. Bull. 198. 35 pp. 1944. 100
Industrial Injuries to Women T1945]. Bull. 212. 20 pp. 1947. 100
REPORTS ON WOMEN WORKERS IN PREWAR YEARS
Women at work (a century of industrial change) ; women’s economic status as
compared to men’s; women workers in their family environment (Cleveland,
and Utah) ; women’s employment in certain industries (clothing, canneries,
laundries, offices, government service) ; State-wide survey of women’s employ
ment in various States; economic status of university women.
THE WOMEN’S BUREAU—Its Purpose and Functions. Leaflet.
Women’s Bureau Conference, 1948. Bull. 224. 210 pp. 1948.
1946.
Write the Women’s Bureau, U. S. Department of Labor, Washington 25, D. C\,
for complete list of publications available for distribution.
o
@FedFRASER