Before the World Wide Web, almost the only way a dispersed community could communicate across the Internet was by newsgroup. In 1992, the bionet newsgroup Women in Biology got underway, aiming to discuss "career issues for women professionals in biology." Women in Biology was the first major Internet resource for women biologists, and is still going strong.

A frequent question at the beginning (and one that still pops up) is, Why do women biologists need a special newsgroup? Do they do biology differently? Most women would agree that we don't necessarily do science differently. But our experiences as science professionals can be substantially different from those of male colleagues, especially because the higher we go, the fewer we are. Women in Biology provides us with a community of peers for sharing and learning. Participants are at different stages of their careers, most probably being graduate students and postdocs. Discussions range from the history of women in science, to dealing with demands of children and family, to the workings of peer review, to strategies for surviving graduate school. Most of these issues are not unique to women in biology, and many men also participate. As newsgroups go, Women in Biology maintains a high standard for courtesy and meaningful discourse. For a snapshot of a day in the life of a woman in science, this is the place to focus.

But the Internet is now much bigger than newsgroups, thanks to the World Wide Web. The delight of the Web is the number of people who create sites just because someone might find them interesting. The difficulty is that there are so many resources, and the signal to noise ratio can be rather low. Try typing "women and biology" on a search engine and you will find thousands of hits. I know this because over the winter I started looking. At first, I wanted particular information: I read an obituary of Elizabeth Keller, who worked with Robert Holley on tRNA structure, and I knew nothing about her. Then I looked at what else was out there. It took me some time, but I gathered a varied collection of links that deserved its own section in my bookmarks file.

Thus was born the Women in Biology Internet Launch Page. This page of links is intended to bypass the search engines and provide those interested in issues facing women biologists with fast and direct access to the most useful information. Exhaustive? Of course not. But it gets you started. I organized the page around several broad categories, which summarize the different types of information that I seek.

History Organizations

The first category is the history of women in science. It's easy to miss the contributions that women scientists have made, and continue to make, to biology. One remarkable elderly woman scientist told me she never cares about the credit, only about the work. Such dedication to the science often means that the scientist herself is forgotten. A good place to start is 4000 Years of Women in Science. The site provides short biographies of a range of women, especially those from centuries past. However, the entries are disappointingly brief. For example, in the short paragraph devoted to Rosalind Franklin, there are scarcely more than a few sentences. The Webmaster might want to add a link to one of the other sites that discusses Franklin's life and science. I would also like to see more twentieth-century women scientists.

There are other sites with more recent names, although they are few and information is sketchy, such as Women in Developmental Biology or Distinguished Women of Past and Present. (I never did find any information about Elizabeth Keller's tRNA work.)

Organizations

Another category of Web-based information is that of organizations dedicated to women scientists. The Association of Women in Science (AWIS) is one such group that brings together women of different scientific disciplines. Recently, they started a drive to get women to register with them to create a database of practicing women scientists. The goal is to provide, in one place, access to women with expertise in many fields. How often have women not been invited to a meeting or nominated for an award or involved in policy, simply because the organizer didn't know any women in the field? The AWIS registry is a way around that, and women biologists should participate.

A similar idea is behind the registry of established women cell biologists that was recently set up by the Women in Cell Biology committee of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB). In this case, they have chosen to restrict the list to relatively senior people, and to rely on a trickle-down effect to raise the profile of juniors.

Career and Professional Resources

A third major division of Web resources relates directly to career issues. Many of these are not limited to women scientists, but relevant to anyone contemplating or involved in biology as a career. Among these sites are a host of practical pages on writing posters and proposals, and a searchable index of funding opportunities. But for practical, honest information, I am particularly fond of the online publications from the National Academy Press (NAP).

First, the NAP guide Careers in Science and Engineering should be required reading for every undergraduate science major, and for the professors who advise them. This short book is written in a breezy, friendly style, and is intended to give an overview of the wide range of possibilities for careers with degrees (especially advanced degrees) in science.

The second publication is an excellent handbook about mentoring, Adviser, Teacher, Role Model, Friend. Most of this should be common sense, but alas, seldom is. This book is a positive resource for anyone responsible for mentoring students, postdocs, or junior faculty. It is also useful for the mentored, revealing what they should and should not expect. You might think this handbook should be required reading by every lab head, and indeed shortly after it was published, everyone holding a National Institutes of Health grant was sent a copy. This site has additional volumes of interest, including reports on the education and funding of young investigators in biology. These take a clear and honest view of the difficulties and changes in science as a career, and despite being a few years old, they are still eye-openers for those who are running on the academic track.

There are some career experiences particular to women professionals making their way in a predominantly male culture. A discussion of some of these issues can be found in an online essay called Barriers to Women in Academic Science and Engineering. Younger women tend to think this sort of thing is all history, but while the more egregious examples have receded, there are still issues that bear watching. It's worth recalling the Swedish study last year that showed that women postdoctoral candidates had to have qualifications exceeding those of male candidates to achieve the same ranking for fellowships. Positive, assertive points for dealing with women scientists' career issues is provided by a short list called Ways to Make Science More Inclusive for Women. This should be required reading for every teacher and meeting organizer.

Other Web Resources

Endlinks

Rosalind Franklin - the only woman scientist I learned about in high school. This page from Genentech provides additional information about her life and career.

Women Nobel Prize Laureates - linked list of all the women Nobel winners, in all fields. It should continue to expand in years to come.

Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 1996 - National Science Foundation report discussing some issues relevant to representation of different groups in science fields.

Women in Science issue of The Scientist - a broadsheet for active scientists covering multiple fields, this issue addressed topics relevant to women scientists.

Expanding the Talent Pool - Howard Hughes Medical Institute report focusing on aspects of undergraduate education to encourage and keep women and minority students in science.

Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering - an extensive collection of links to related sites.

Educational Pipeline Issues for Women - a provocative essay focused on computer science but relevant to all sciences.

Women-Related Science/Technology Email Lists - an extensive list of mailing lists addressing women in science.

Web sites mentioned in this column:

History

Organizations

Career and Professional Resources

Other Web Resources