Commission on the Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science, Engineering and Technology (Morella Commission)
April 1999
It is a pleasure and an honor to be here today to speak before the Commission. The Commission’s work is vitally important to our nation. Strengthening our science and technology work force, with the full representation of women and minorities, is essential for sustained U.S. economic growth, job creation, our competitiveness, and our quality of life.
Technology for Economic Growth
It is critical to view science and technology in an economic context. The U.S. is enjoying a phenomenal period of economic growth. This remarkable performance is directly related to our investments in research and technology, and the work of our scientists and engineers.
Leading economists identify technical progress as a major, if not the single most important factor in sustained economic growth, accounting for as much as one-half of U.S. economic growth in the past 50 years. Our technology-intensive industries—aerospace, chemicals, communications, computers, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and software—have been growing at about twice the rate of the economy as a whole in the past two decades.
Scientists, engineers, and technologists will be at the core of our economic and social endeavors of the next century. It is therefore imperative that women, minorities, and the disabled participate fully in the science and technology enterprise that is destined to shape our world and our future. This includes traditional roles, such as working at the bench in the laboratory. In addition, I believe it is critical that we not define the roles of scientists and engineers too narrowly. We are a national broadly based in science and technology. We must train scientists, engineers, and technical workers for a multitude of roles.
For example, we need private sector product developers, engineers for the manufacturing line, high-tech entrepreneurs, math and science teachers, science and technology news reporters, high-tech attorneys, technology–savvy mayors and governors, and even members of the science related committees of the U. S. Congress. All of these roles, and more, are vital in a technologybased society. In fact, 65 percent of all jobs now require some technical skills.
Groups Under-Represented in Science and Technology
Women and minorities have made a good deal of progress in science and technology as we have heard today. I want to present a little bit of data to highlight some other pressure points in increasing the participation of under-represented groups.
Today, Black and Hispanic freshmen declare an intention to major in science and engineering at higher rates than white students. And among students who earn bachelor’s degrees, white, black, Hispanic, and Native Americans earn science and engineering degrees at roughly the same rate.
This suggests that the principal way to improve the science and engineering participation rates of minorities is to increase their presence in the overall pool of undergraduate students. That means interventions must come early.
While the data on minorities in college suggest they pursue science and engineering education at rates comparable to white students, the same cannot be said when comparing women and men. Of men who earn a bachelor’s degree, 38 percent earn them in science and engineering. However, only 27 percent of women do. Since there are now more women than men in college, the data suggest that increasing the role of women in science and engineering requires efforts to get more of them to choose these fields of study.
In the big picture, I believe we need to get more women, and more minorities …and more men…into the technical education pipeline, and into high-paying, wealth-creating, quality of life-enhancing jobs in science and technology.
I want to focus for a moment on engineering. Engineering is among the technical fields most closely associated with high-technology. Yet, women earn only 17 percent of engineering bachelor’s degrees in the United States, and they account for only 9 percent of the engineering work force. Blacks and Hispanics account for far less than 5 percent of the engineering work force. And let me mention that the highest median salaries for women and minorities in science and technology are in engineering.
In addition, women represent only 18 percent of the scientists and engineers in private industry, the sector in which women working in science and technology are most under-represented. Less than three percent of private industry’s science and engineering work force is black, and less than three percent is Hispanic.
This is a problem because the private sector’s investment in R&D far outstrips the public and academic sector’s R&D investment combined. The private sector’s technical work force is not only the spring-board for high-tech executives, but also for new high-tech entrepreneurial firms. Many high-tech start-ups in the United States have been founded by individuals who spun-out of larger companies where they worked on technical staff. In short, we need to get more women and minorities into the high-tech action arena.
IT Jobs and Computer Science
The brightest future opportunities are in fields where women and minorities are under-represented. During the 1996 to 2006 period, employment in science and engineering occupations is expected to increase at more than three times the rate for all occupations.
While the economy as a whole is anticipated to provide approximately 14 percent more jobs over this decade, employment opportunities for science and engineering jobs are expected to increase by about 44 percent, or by about 1.3 million jobs.
Approximately three-fourths of the increase in science and engineering jobs will occur in computer-related occupations–including computer scientists and engineers, and systems analysts. These occupational categories will be the fastest growing occupations in the country from 1996 to 2006. In addition to the million new jobs for computer scientists and engineers, and systems analysts, the country is projected to need another 300,000 computer programmers to fill newly created jobs and to replace programmers who are exiting the occupation. In total, that’s a demand for 1.3 million highly skilled workers to fill IT jobs.
Women and some minorities are under-represented in the core IT work force. For example, only 28 percent of computer systems analysts and scientists are women, 7 percent are black, and only 2 percent are Hispanic. Part of this under-representation starts in the education pipeline. For example, men are three times more likely to choose computer science as a field of study than women.
Full representation in the fields that create and apply information technology is critical. It has grown to 45 percent of all business equipment investment; and accounts for up to three-fourths of equipment investment in some industries, such as communications and insurance. The Internet has expanded at an incredible pace, and e-commerce is growing rapidly. Women and minorities must be architects and key players in the Information Age.
Image of the Technical Profession and Public Understanding of Technology
There is a growing consensus that part of the challenge of getting more women and minorities, and other people for that matter, into science and engineering is the image of the technical profession. Another problem is limited public understanding of science and technology, and the wide variety of well-paying careers that draw on technical knowledge and skill. Only one in five Americans thinks he is very well informed about new scientific discoveries and about the use of new inventions and technologies. Clearly, a low level of public understanding of science and technology would translate into fewer people having an interest in pursuing these fields.
Women and minorities may experience less encouragement to enter technical education and careers due to a lack of role models in the technical professions in school, at home, in postsecondary education, and in the work force. Based on a family’s work history and on parental aspirations for children, technical careers–-such as engineering—may not be considered an option for young women and some young minorities.
Since most new science and engineering jobs will be computer related, the digital divide is a concern. White households are more than twice as likely to own a computer as Black or Hispanic households, and nearly three times as likely to have on-line access. Early exposure to IT helps influence education and career choice, and provides early skill development toward that end.
Finally, the image of the technical professional perpetuated in the media—the geek or nerd—is not attractive to many young women and minorities. A group of students in the 6th and 9th grades was asked to draw a picture of an information technology worker. Prevalent among the images were bow ties and bald heads, pocket protectors, pants that are too short, and thick glasses. Out of the 160 pictures of IT workers submitted by the students, only 16 of them portrayed women. Image is an important attribute of the profession because it translates into the question, “Can I imagine myself in that role?”
No Silver Bullet
- There is no silver bullet for increasing the representation of women and minorities in science and technology. We need a multi-pronged strategy, including:
- Better math and science teaching in K-12
- More and better information about science and technology careers for teachers, guidance counselors, parents and students;
- More mentoring;
- Stronger linkages between high-tech companies and women’s and minority colleges–linkages in R&D, internships, and recruitment–to send a message that the market values these skills;
- More outreach to women and minority groups on campus and to their professional and technical societies.
- And last, I believe we must significantly increase our efforts to raise the public’s understanding of science and technology in general. The Federal government alone spends millions of dollars annually to improve the public understanding of science. Public understanding of technology needs to be put on an equal footing.
Moreover, in our efforts to increase public understanding, our message must link science and technology closely to the products and services that are derived from them, and the jobs and wealth they create. More people need to get this message, and appreciate the extraordinary contributions scientists and technologists have made to our standard of living, prosperity, and competitiveness. This will encourage more young Americans– of all races and ethnic origins, male and female–to pursue technical educations and careers.
In closing, we as a nation cannot take full advantage of our investments in research and technology, nor can we fully capitalize upon the opportunities of the knowledge-based economy, unless we full utilize all of our human capital.
Thank you.