Yahoo's new chief executive Marissa Mayer is the youngest in the Fortune 500, which now has a record 19 female CEOs. 10. Meg Whitman / Hewlett/Packard 19. Ginni Rometty / IBM 28. Patricia Woertz / Archer Daniels Midland 41. Indra Nooyi / PepsiCo 45. Angela F. Braly / WellPoint 50. Irene B. Rosenfeld / Kraft Foods 72. Ellen J. Kullman / DuPont 125. Carol Meyrowitz / TJX 127. Ursula Burns / Xerox 234. Sheri McCoy / Avon Products 250. Deanna Mulligan / Guardian Life Ins. Of America 266. Debra Reed / Sempra Energy 334. Denise Morrison / Campbell Soup 390. Ilene S. Gordon / Ingredion 396. Heather Bresch / Mylan 464. Maggie Wilderotter / Frontier Communications 465. Gracia C. Martore / Gannett 483. Marissa Mayer / Yahoo 499. Beth E. Mooney / Key Corp

Women are underrepresented in many science and engineering occupations. Percentage of Employed STEM Professionals Who Are Women, Selected Professions, 2008 Women have made tremendous progress in education and the workplace during the past 50 years, including in scientific and engineering fields. However, women are underrepresented in many science and engineering occupations. This chart shows the percentage of women in selected STEM professions, and although women make up more than half of working biological scientists, they make up less than 7% of mechanical engineers. Slide Source: American Association of University Women Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2009, Women in the labor force: A databook (Report 1018) (Washington, DC), Table 11. 2

At colleges and universities, small changes can make a big difference in attracting and retaining women in STEM. Slide Source: American Association of University Women Source: Higher Education Research Institute, 2007, Survey of the American freshman: Special tabulations (Los Angeles, CA), cited in National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, 2009, Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science and engineering: 2009 (NSF 09-305) (Arlington, VA), Table B-8.

Implicit Bias Most people associate science and math fields with “male” and humanities and arts fields with “female.” Women in “male” jobs are viewed as less competent than their male peers. When women are clearly competent, they are often considered less “likable.” Research by Mahzarin Banaji, a former AAUW fellow, and her colleagues at Harvard University shows that even individuals who consciously reject negative stereotypes about women in science often still believe that science is better suited to men at an unconscious level. These unconscious beliefs or implicit biases may be more powerful than explicitly held beliefs and values simply because we are not aware of them. Banaji is a co-developer of the implicit association test (IAT) which anyone can take to learn more about their biases. The test is freely available online and is anonymous. Since the gender-science implicit association test was established in 1998, more than a half million people from around the world have taken it, and more than 70 percent of test takers more readily associated “male” with science and “female” with arts than the reverse. These tests are not an indication of what a person consciously believes, but rather an indication of what goes on unconsciously. Implicit bias may influence girls’ likelihood of identifying with and participating in math and science and contributes to bias in science and engineering fields in education and the workplace – even among people who support gender equity. So what can be done to combat these biases? Recommendations First, you can learn more about your implicit bias by taking the tests at the website shown here. And second, if you find that you do have biases (and most people do), you can take steps to address them. Simple steps such as learning more about female scientists and engineers, and having positive images of women in science in your office, classrooms and homes can help “reset” your biases. Take a test to learn about your unconscious bias at https://implicit.harvard.edu.