Women beware. You are on the brink of destruction: You have hitherto been engaged in crushing your waists; now you are attempting to cultivate your mind: You have been merely dancing all night in the foul air of the ball-room; now you are beginning to spend your mornings in study. You have been incessantly stimulating your emotions with concerts and operas, with French plays, and French novels; now you are exerting your understanding to learn Greek, and solve propositions in Euclid. Beware!! Science pronounces that the woman who studies is lost --- R. R. Coleman, M.D., 1889.
In this chapter, I will describe various ways in which women are steered
away from professional success, particularly in traditionally male
fields such as engineering. Girls
and women are subject to societal pressure to stay away from such
subjects or to accept themselves as ``unfeminine''. Academically
successful women are generally seen as being less attractive and less happy than
less highly-achieving women. Additionally,
there are still people who believe, consciously or subconsciously,
that women are incapable of being top scientists and who take women
less seriously in general.