studied, and according to purpose or viewpoint * * * [physiologists] have equal rights to at least two or three professional labels-occasionally even a fourth if they earn their living by teaching courses with titles not directly reflecting their research interests" (9). Employment of Women in Various Scientific Fields The totals as well as the separate estimates of the number of men and women in the scientific fields as shown in table 1 must be interpreted with these difficulties of boundaries and classifications in mind. The source of each estimate indicates its nature and its limitations. The relatively small role women play in the sciences is at once evident, amounting to less than 3 percent of the total. Granted that table 1 presents minimum estimates in 1947, probably less than 15,000 women were engaged in professional work in the sciences as here defined, as compared with some half a million men. If engineering which occupies two-thirds of the men in these fields is excluded, women still comprise only 7 percent of the total in all the other fields. Among scientists trained at the graduate level including engineers with Ph. D.'s, women form about 5 percent of the total, according to the Office of Scientific Personnel of the National Research Council. The proportion women are of the total employed in certain sciences, however, is much greater than their ratio in others. (See table 1 and chart I.) In bacteriology, they form one-fourth of the total; in mathematics and in general botany and in general biology, approximately one-fifth. In geography, astronomy, physiology, general zoology, and pathology, they comprise between one-tenth and onefifth. On the other hand, in engineering, in the agricultural plant sciences and animal husbandry, and in meteorology, they total 1 percent or less. However, the largest scientific fields for women in terms of the actual number employed are: Chemistry, which employs 42 percent of all the women in science; mathematics, which employs 16 percent; and bacteriology, engineering, and physics, each of which employ 7 to 8 percent. (See chart II.) For men, on the other hand, engineering is overwhelmingly predominant, while chemistry ranks second. (See chart I.) Physics, architecture, and geology fall next in order. Each of these fields as well as mathematics and the agricultural plant sciences employ more men than the number of women employed in the largest scientific field for women, that of chemistry. Table 1.-Estimated Number and Percent Distribution of Men and Women in Principal Scientific Fields in the United States, 1946-47 NOTE. These estimates are derived from a variety of sources and should be interpreted with caution. (See sources of estimates below and discussion in text on difficulties of classification and variations in training levels.) The totals are for the sciences listed and do not include all those whose work or training includes science. Medicine is the largest of the groups omitted. 1 Estimate of registered architects in 1947 by Department of Education and Research, American Institute of Architects. This does not include landscape architects. The percentage of women is estimated at twice their 1 percent proportion in the American Institute of Architects and less than their 2.3 percent in the 1940 Census figures in which landscape architects were included. 2 American Astronomical Society 1946 membership. * Estimate based on 1947 membership of Society of American Bacteriologists, which exceeded 3,000 and which includes more experienced group. 4 National Roster of Scientific and Specialized Personnel, Registrants, Dec. 31, 1946 (38). These are minimum figures, as indicated by a comparison with table 4, p. 1-20. Rounded estimate of number available in 1946 made by a committee of the Botanical Society of America (6). Proportion of women based on distribution of membership in the Society in 1945 and of National Roster registration. Estimate of the total obtained by adding the 9,360 Ph. D.'s in chemistry active in 1947 according to the National Research Council's Office of Scientific Personnel to the 18,720 master's and 48,672 bachelor's in chemistry, estimated by applying a ratio of 2 master's to 1 Ph. D. and 5.2 bachelor's to 1 Ph. D. (These are the ratios among scientists in industrial research laboratories, according to the same source.) The percentage of the total who are women is estimated at 7 percent, slightly higher than the 6 percent ratio found in 1946 in a 10 percent sample count of the 48,000 members of the American Chemical Society in which the ratio of women is probably lower than among nonmembers. Estimate of total for March 1946 as given in Engineers Joint Council survey report. Proportion of women based on 1940 Census distribution (34). 1946 Census of Professional Geographers by Division of Geology and Geography of National Research Council. Estimate of the Geological Society of America, 1946. 10 American Meteorological Association membership, 1947. 11 Estimate of the total obtained by adding the 2,250 Ph. D.'s in physics active in 1947 according to the National Research Council's Office of Scientific Personnel to the 4,500 master's and 11,700 bachelor's in physics, estimated by applying a ratio of 2 master's to 1 Ph. D. and 5.2 bachelor's to 1 Ph. D. (These are the ratios among scientists in industrial research laboratories, according to the same source.) The Type of Work Women in Science Do The variety of occupations in which women college graduates who have majored in science are engaged is described in more detail in the separate bulletins in this series. They range from the simplest type of routine laboratory work to the most difficult type of research work, for which the doctorate usually represents only a beginning. They may include the teaching of high school science or a professorship in a large university. Although the boundaries here, too, are not clear cut, and there is interchange and overlapping between the groups, certain principal types of work have been differentiated. In scientific research, for xample, three major groups may be distinguished-the pure or basic scientists, those engaged in applied research and development, and those who do background research (44). Pioneering at the outskirts of our knowledge are the pure or research scientists who seek to extend the frontiers of what is known, often regardless of the immediate, practical value of the additional territory. They are for the most part employed in university and research institution laboratories where basic rather than applied research is emphasized. Marie Curie was one of the few women who have won international renown in pure scientific research (8). In applied research and development, a larger group of scientists develop new uses and new products through the application of known scientific principles. They are employed primarily by industry and Government. A third group of scientists engaged in background research provide essential data for both the pure and applied scientists by their systematic observation, recording, and organization of facts useful as a foundation or point of reference for further research. Government, industry, and universities employ scientists of this type. Besides these three classes of research scientists, another group of persons trained in the sciences work in industrial plants, hospitals, and other operating establishments applying scientific knowledge to existing processes, materials, or products to insure their adequacy or to test their composition or qualities. Among these are plant or operating engineers, control chemists, and medical laboratory technicians. Another very large group are primarily teachers of science in colleges and universities. Others are teaching in high school, although most high-school teachers of science have majored in education rather than in science. Another group is engaged in such related occupations as patent work, technical library work, or in scientific writing, editing, or illustrating. Obviously, the boundaries between all these types of scientific endeavor are set by the inclination, ability, training, and opportunity |