An online network will give female nanoscientists career-development tools and services to help them gain traction in a male-dominated field. The network is part of gender-equality efforts by Suzanne Brainard, the executive director of the Center for Workforce Development at the University of Washington in Seattle. She hopes eventually to expand the network and hand it over to a university or governing body. In May, Brainard and others held a workshop in Washington DC that highlighted women's poor representation in the field. It found that child-care obligations often bar female nanoscientists from attending and presenting at conferences and travelling for collaborations — a problem in a field that requires much interdisciplinary and collaborative research, says Brainard.