Science is a pervasive influence on human life today, though most people have only a vague image of what science means and may have complete misperceptions about certain scientific concepts. Many people simply have not been exposed to the information they need to judge science. Women, however, have been actively excluded, or at least discouraged, from science for some time, a factor much noted in analyses of academic statistics and in analyses of the job market in science. This is noted in the book Common Science? Women, Science, and Knowledge by Jean Barr and Lynda Birke as part of their primary emphasis on the fact that the scientific community remains largely unaccountable to the public. Part of their approach to this issue is to talk to non-academics to see what they think about science and about the issues surrounding the field.