Suburbia and Sputnik

Abstract

With the start of the Cold War, and then the Korean War in 1950, American women were once again asked to contribute to the nation’s defense. Young women were even encouraged to study science and engineering, particularly after the Russian lunch of Sputnik. Similarly to the experiences after World War II, however, women were expected to be compliant about being discarded and replaced when a national crisis had passed. After the middle of the twentieth century, with higher levels of education and training among women and the general population, such treatment began to prove unacceptable for women. But it would still be several decades, and take federal legislation and Presidential actions, before signifi cant progress was made toward even a semblance of equal opportunity for scientifi c and engineering women. Profi les are provided for scientifi c and engineering women from the mid 1900s through the early twenty-fi rst century.