Hmm. To me, the problem with "girl power", etc. is that, as a young female scientist, you're inundated with suggestions that girls are your "team" and boys are

Hmm. To me, the problem with "girl power", etc. is that, as a young female scientist, you're inundated with suggestions that girls are your "team" and boys are your rivals. If you hear enough about "girl power" growing up, you start to feel that you have to represent your gender well: that you have to beat boys on tests (though it doesn't matter if you beat other girls on tests), or that knowing more than a male colleague is something to be proud of. "Girl power" was what I said in elementary school when the girls beat the guys at soccer or something, but when you start to use that sentiment in relation to intellectual abilities, you foster a hostile work environment and you encourage intellectual competition rather than collaboration across gender. On a related note, here's a NYT blog post that I saw recently that highlights the science fair winners' gender and just goes up in flames: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/girl-power-wins-at-googles-first-science-fair/ http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/girl-power-wins-at-... It ends by suggesting that Google hired Marissa Mayer and Susan Wojcicki because they would help recruit more women, which made me cringe, even though I know that the author probably didn't intend to make exactly that point.