I had a chance recently to speak with Karen Purcell, author of the forthcoming book , about some of the challenges facing women in these fields.

Purcell's book is due out on Aug. 1. As a professional engineer and founder of award-winning engineering firm , she has both professional and personal insight on the topic.

PCWorld: Please describe some of what makes it difficult for women to thrive in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.

Purcell: Women who choose to follow careers in STEM disciplines face unique and frustrating challenges. Even after we establish ourselves in our careers, we continue to encounter potential career-ending traps. Not only do women in STEM careers have higher attrition rates than do their male counterparts--especially within the first 10 years on the job--we also have higher attrition rates than women in other careers.

The general belief that men outperform women in math and science fields is one of the reasons for the high attrition rate. Other reasons include cognitive gender differences, a womans lack of interest in the STEM fields, work-life balance issues, and bias. This is an important subject to acknowledge and correct; otherwise, we will never level the playing field.