Two years ago, Lawrence Summers, then president of Harvard University, angered the world when he said “innate” differences between men and women were the reason why fewer women succeed in math and the sciences.

As someone who has studied science for 22 years, however, Marina Caillaud, assistant professor of biology at Ithaca College, said science isn’t any more difficult than other subject areas.

“I can’t believe it’s harder than writing a paper on Shakespeare,” she said. “Maybe it requires more work, but it’s not harder.”

In the last two decades, many women have been recognized in the science community, but Caillaud said they still have to work on their reputations.

“There is an idea that males are better in science, and that idea is everywhere,” she said. “It has a lot to do with social constructs and expectations.”

The ratio of men and women applying to the college is almost balanced. Of nearly 1,000 applications to the college’s sciences in 2007, 518 applicants were female, Gerard Turbide, the director of admissions at the college, said. There were 505 male applicants.

Caillaud said many women get science degrees, but a higher percentage of men actually use their degree because women often consider the concept of family at an earlier point in their lives.

According to the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Web site, women made up for slightly more than 40 percent of graduate enrollment in the sciences in 2004.

The site also shows the gender gap widens after graduation. While the U.S. work force in 2004 was 42 percent female, the science and engineering industries were only 27 percent female.

Senior Carolyn Vitale, a biochemistry major, said she started to see the difference between men and women in her chemistry and biology classes. She said men dominated her chemistry classes and women dominated herbiology classes.

“I’m more comfortable in biology than in chemistry,” she said. “I do just as well [in chemistry], but the atmosphere is different.”

Caillaud said women are always competing with men for jobs and tenure in the science fields, but men have the advantage ofmore time.

“The years when you are being evaluated are the years when you should have kids,” she said. “It’s not only something determined by society, but [also] biologically.”

Ivonne Diaz-Claisse, who has a master’s degree in operations research and information engineering and a doctorate in mathematics, has worked for AT&T doing data analysis and optimizing the capacity of their telecommunications network. She has two children, ages four and seven, and she took a leave of absence from work after each was born.

“You want to be the best mother you can be, and you want to be the best worker you can be,” Diaz-Claisse said. “But you’re only one person.”

Beatrice Mueller, a researcher for the Planetary Science Institute, said women also have finances to consider when trying to balance work and family. She said  her work is often funded by grants and other inconsistent sources.

“If you are the major breadwinner, it becomes a problem,” Mueller said.

She said her two children are school-aged, so balancing family and work is less difficult now.  She also said that her job offers flexible hours so she can enjoy the excitement of research.

“It’s fun. That’s why I do it,” she said. “Discovering new things — that’s what I love.”

Women who enter the sciences generally choose human sciences. In a 2004 NSF study, women comprised more than half of the national graduate enrollment in psychology, social sciences and the biological sciences, while only 22 percent of graduate students in engineering were female.

Caillaud said the fact that there are fewer women in computer science and engineering may reflect differences in interests influenced by gender.

“I never cared why the car worked like that,” she said.

Cornell University is making an effort to increase the percentage of women in science. It held the first Empowering Women in Science and Engineering conference in June. The conference addressed various challenges facing women in scientific fields, including work-life balance, strategies for approaching salary negotiations and career planning, said DiOnetta Jones, the director of Diversity Programs in Engineering and an organizer ofthe conference.

Jones said the Diversity Programs in Engineering at Cornell was created to increase the gender and ethnic diversity among faculty and students within the engineering department and ensure they have a supportive environment.

“Not only is it ethically and morally the right thing to do, but engineering is a growing industry,” Jones said. “We are going to face a shortage of engineers. We need every person, and if we leave people out we will be ata disadvantage.”

Caillaud said many women choose not to have careers inscience so they can have families, because balancing the two can be exceptionally difficult as a scientist since they are expected to spend time in the lab doing research. But as a mother of two and a genetics specialist, she is doing both, she explained as she rushed out of her office Tuesday to pick up her kids.

“You have to make the kids, then raise small kids; at the same time you have to prove yourself,” Caillaud said.

She said so many societal problems also require science to solve, including HIV/AIDS and global warming, and that the industry will need women to help address these issues.

“To not be able to tap into the intelligence or creativity of women and other under-represented groups is a problem,” she said.

Caillaud said one reason why women are less likely to be engaged in science is because they are not expected nor encouraged when they are younger.

According to the 2007 Freshmen Attitudes Report, men are more confident than women about their abilities in math and science. The report, released by Noel-Levitz, Inc., also suggests that women have more verbal confidence.

She said she hasn’t seen a difference in ability between her male and female students, but she has seen a lack of confidence in women, which makes them work harder to compensate.

“They don’t count on their talents,” Caillaud said. “They feel like they have to work extra hard [but that] makes them absolutely excellent.”

Vitale, who is in the process of applying to medical schools, said her hard work has paid off.

“Girls are kicking ass,” she said. “We’re excelling.”