Introduction

• Throughout history, women who have wanted to participate in physics have faced a never-ending obstacle course of social disapproval, educational inequity, and downright discrimination.

• Women have always been underrepresented in physics and related fields, such as engineering, that demand a strong physics background. The percentage of women in these fields decreases noticably with each step of career advancement.

• "In today’s fast-changing, technological world, attracting and keeping women in physics is important because the knowledge and problem-solving skills of physicists are essential in many professions and to society at large" (Barbosa).

• "While it is undoubtedly true that the minds of women are equally able as the minds of men to study the physical world around us, the field of physics itself continues to be refracted through male eyes" (Wertheim).