University Libraries Promotion and Tenure Recognition

As a young woman in medical school, I found it surprising that there were so few women at high levels in academic medicine, even after years of increasing awareness of the problem of gender inequity. Now, as a scientist with two teenage daughters, I have become more interested in learning what motivates women to choose careers in the sciences. "The door in the dream" addresses these questions by examining the personal lives and scientific careers of several renowned female scientists, learning how they balanced their families with their work and how they overcame obstacles to excel at the highest level. Their stories are inspiring, enlightening, and entertaining. However, as the author notes: "A careful reading of the profiles in this book makes it apparent that even for the highly talented members of the National Academy of Sciences the playing field is not yet level" (p. 218). I hope that those of us who are interested in science will allow the experiences of these successful women to inspire us to make the next generation of scientists even better.