"Why" Vs. "What," Or "The Bad Penny Opera": Gender And Bias In Science

The research of today has been shaped by how young scientists were viewed and received when starting out decades earlier. The author reflects on her personal experiences as a woman pursuing a science career and looks at contemporary contributions to innovation and science by men and women. Although women have been routinely asked "why" they wanted to enter a scientific field while men have been asked "what" field they wanted to enter, the author asserts that an objective look is revealing. An analysis of the data available on the National Academy of Inventors website demonstrates: 1) equal creativity as shown by categories of patents held by both men and women and 2) the effect of the early, and possibly continuing, bias during the careers of women in that men hold more patents than women.