"In 1999, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology admitted to discriminating against its most senior female scientists. It was a seismic cultural event--one that forced institutions across the nation to reckon with the bias faced by girls and women in STEM. The Exceptions is the story of the women on MIT's faculty who started it all, centered on the life and career of their unlikely leader: Nancy Hopkins, a noted molecular geneticist and cancer researcher and protégée of James Watson, the codiscoverer of the structure of DNA." -- from dust jacket.

An epiphany on Divinity Avenue -- The choice -- An immodest proposal -- At the feet of Harvard's great men -- Bungtown road -- "Women, please apply" -- The vow -- "We should distance all competitors" -- Our Millie -- The best home for a feminist -- Liberated lifestyles -- Kendall square -- "This slow and gentle robbery" -- "Fodder" -- Fun in middle age -- Three hundred square feet -- MIT Inc. -- Sixteen tenured women -- X and Y -- All for one or one for all -- "The greater part of the balance -- Epilogue -- The sixteen.