The lack of women in science and engineering is a much researched and lamented problem.
The origins of the problem are easy to figure out - women were not allowed to participate for most of human history, and in the last century the situation has changed enough so that there are now few formal barriers, but millenia's worth of cultural ones.
I particularly enjoy reading Cambridge physicist Athene Donald's blog, wherein she devotes most of her writing to women in science issues. As one of the very accomplished examples of women in science, it's well worth checking out for anyone remotely interested in the topic.
In her latest column she writes about writing a piece for the Comment is Free (CIF) column in the UK Guardian newspaper. CIF is a bit of a mixed bag - comment may free, but in the comments section it's also often gratuitously vitriolic. In this case much of the vitriol was prompted by the headline (which, as almost any newspaper literate reader knows, is not actually written by the author of the article). Athene deftly dissects the responses to her article...
Meanwhile, she also touched on the Science: It's a Girl Thing campaign by the European Comission. Here's the original teaser (yes, that's what they call it) video that they put together.
Well... That doesn't quite do the trick for me. Interesting idea, but apparently they decided to give it to the guy that directed all those Whitesnake music videos in the eighties.
So apparently a handful of ethnically diverse teenybopper supermodel wannabes are amused by being in the middle of scientificy looking things. I think he nearest any of them comes to doing something is the gal miming writing something on a perspex board. Couldn't quite tell, though.
Seriously, they couldn't do better than this? Rihanna giggles at bouncing balls? Sheesh.
This video is now pulled from the EU site, replaced by something way more pedestrian. Where's the creativity that could put something outrageously good together?
