Economic Security: Expanding Women's Participation in US Science (Perspectives‪)‬

As US competitiveness is increasingly challenged on all sides, the forced attrition of women from the science, engineering, technology, and mathematics (STEM) workforce represents an annual cost of billions of dollars. This loss comes at a time when the United States is facing an absolute decline in entry-level engineers and growing rivalry from foreign innovators. Most discussions hold that gender equality is the primary benefit of, and reason for, getting more women into science. But this is not the primary benefit. Instead, the failure to expand women's participation in science is not simply an issue of "feminism" or civil rights but increasingly a problem for US economic security. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]