We are therefore committed to removing barriers that limit the participation of women in physics and to making available to women the same range of career choices traditionally open to men. Members of CSWP have also addressed the question of why we are encouraging women into physics when jobs are scarce. Thus an increased female presence has the potential to improve the quality of the physics workforce. Surely the reasons why women should be encouraged to enter physics are the same as why men should be so encouraged-intellectual satisfaction, and an opportunity to make a difference in the world by the use of one's talents and energy. The next generation of physical scientists, we know from our research, has grown up, been educated, and wishes to live in a co-ed profession.
Young people are thoroughly co-ed in their perceptions of the field.
They are the future. And their future includes women as equal partners at home and in the workplace. In my view women are as likely to contribute to new job creation as men. You should pursue a career in physics when you are called to it - when your love for the beauty of this way of looking at the world makes other choices impossible. It is not supposed to be easy.