The myth that girls can't do math, or science, for that matter, is being challenged at colleges and universities across New Jersey.
The number of women earning degrees in math, science or engineering at Rutgers University rose to 36 percent last year, from 31 percent 20 years ago. Researchers at Steven Institute of Technology in Hoboken won a $2.5 million National Science Foundation grant in April to help 30 universities across the nation recruit females to study math and science. Meanwhile, the Murray Center for Women at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark is in its second year of a networking program to help retain female freshmen.
And while women still lag behind men in science-centered careers, more than half the students going on to medical school or to study the biological and environmental sciences are female, according to recent data. Nationwide, around 30 percent of the doctorates in mathematical sciences are awarded to women, compared with just 5 percent in the 1950s.
That's reason to celebrate. Women have not made such strides in the sciences and math since they had to hand their jobs over to returning veterans after World War II. Before that, 15 percent to 20 percent of top math degrees went to women.
We think it's important for colleges and universities to continue to encourage female students to get engaged in the sciences. If girls get hooked early on, they grow confident that they can squelch any myth about what is -- or isn't -- woman's work.