Can women do research?

A Campus Technology article on the 2nd annual Graduate Cohort Program of the Computer Research Association's Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) discusses responses to the question.

"The CRA-W event offered an elegant, practical answer to valid concerns about the current low numbers of women completing advanced CS degrees and heading for jobs in computer science research. Rather than mulling over problematic research on the relative abilities of men and women in scientific fields, organizers of this conference aim at increasing success and reducing attrition of women in the career path leading from graduate study into the computing research field in academia or industry. Mentoring and networking are core elements of the program and considered keys to boosting the staying power of women in a field that has been traditionally dominated by men."

As I have commented previously, Computer Science and Engineering, and the Information Technology field in general, are shockingly low in the proportion of women, and the figures just keep getting worse. The activities of CRA-W are one of the few bright spots on this horizon.