Sir, – The headline "Women held back by 'family obligations', says MIT professor" misrepresents both Dick Ahlstrom's article (December 5th) and the primary message I delivered at WiSER's (Centre for Women in Science and Engineering Research) Trinity College Dublin event.
It is the undervaluation of equal work if done by a woman that is the primary cause of women’s low representation at the top in science.
Failure to redesign professions to accommodate family obligations contributes as well, but it is unconscious gender bias that is by far the greater obstacle to women’s equality. – Yours, etc,
Prof NANCY HOPKINS,
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Massachusetts Institute
of Technology,
Cambridge, Massachusetts.