For psychology professor Vita Rabinowitz, the only thing "innate" about the small number of successful women in science are the obstacles in our society.
Last Thursday, Rabinowitz, who teaches at the City University of New York, condemned Harvard President Lawrence Summers' recent comment that innate differences between men and women hold women back from the upper levels of science.
Before an audience of approximately 55 students gathered in McClelland Hall, she called on Penn women to pursue scientific study and criticized educators for not engaging more young women in science.
"At places like Penn ... the problem with women in science is that there is not enough of them," she said.
Rabinowitz noted that women often leave science careers because of the difficulty of starting a family. The demanding hours in the classroom and the lab make it difficult for female scientists and professors to take time off to raise children.
"It is true that there are too few women in the pipeline," she said, "but it is also true that the pipeline selectively leaks women."
Rabinowitz feels that instead of identifying this difficulty, Dr. Summers' comments fuel "the notion that childcare is a woman's problem rather than a human problem."
Second-year medical student Wenny Lin feels that women still confront stereotypes in addition to education and family issues.
"The perception is that if you do show emotion or feeling, it can hold you back."
While second-year medical student Jennifer Hansen feels that universities and research labs need to do more to accommodate women, the long work hours are part of the job.
"It is hard to break with tradition ... [long hours are] what's expected," Hansen said.
The seminar was sponsored by the Penn Department of Earth and Environmental Science and Ware and Fisher-Hassenfeld College Houses.
