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scottahillI tend to be unhappy with reports on sexism in the workplace, because they often avoid mentioning any specific causes on gender inequities, leading one to assume the worst-- leering chauvinist bosses with cigars in their mouths, active suppression of female hiring/pay, etc. However, this article from the Chronicle makes a lot of sense about why there are fewer women in science professorships than they're should be.
http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2008/10/2008101701c.htm
The argument: while women themselves are not being discouraged from graduate and postgraduate work, pregnant women and young mothers are: a woman with a child is seen as someone who isn't willing to put in the long hours deemed to be necessary to be a serious scientist. I know that J has had to fight this perception during the past year-- not from her advisor so much as from her peers (mostly female peers), who would talk about other pregnant graduate students as if they had given up. To counter this, J made a point of going back to work only a month after giving birth to M, refused to bring M to work even when she could have watched her and done something else at the same time (I, on the other hand, did bring Miriam to my office hours, though it wasn't necessarily the best idea), and is resistant to any pleas on my part that she work less and give me more of a break. (OK, that last bit sounds a little bitter.)
It's hard to say whether I would have felt the same pressure, because I've only been part-time during M's life. I do know, however, that I've never been able to keep up with my research at the pace that was expected from me in graduate and postgraduate work. It made graduate school and my first post-doc fairly miserable for me, and got me a concerned talking-to at my second post-doc (cut short by our move to TX). It occurred to me at some point that I had learned about research expectations mostly from professors at large universities, who have truly dedicated their lives to research. That has never been my career goal, however-- I've always eyed a smaller college position with an emphasis on teaching and a research environment that was supportive but not overwhelming-- and so maybe I learned about research from the wrong people. If I only do research for a few hours a week, or mostly during the summer, I might not be Nobel Prize material, but I can still be a successful physicist who contributes (I hope).
Coming back to the article, it seems that we have these research advisors who are judging their students based on their own life path, rather than on what is right for the student. The former is a lot easier (it doesn't require learning about the individual student) so it's not surprising that this happens, but obviously it's a problem.
OK, enough of that. :)
http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2008/10/2008101701c.htm
The argument: while women themselves are not being discouraged from graduate and postgraduate work, pregnant women and young mothers are: a woman with a child is seen as someone who isn't willing to put in the long hours deemed to be necessary to be a serious scientist. I know that J has had to fight this perception during the past year-- not from her advisor so much as from her peers (mostly female peers), who would talk about other pregnant graduate students as if they had given up. To counter this, J made a point of going back to work only a month after giving birth to M, refused to bring M to work even when she could have watched her and done something else at the same time (I, on the other hand, did bring Miriam to my office hours, though it wasn't necessarily the best idea), and is resistant to any pleas on my part that she work less and give me more of a break. (OK, that last bit sounds a little bitter.)
It's hard to say whether I would have felt the same pressure, because I've only been part-time during M's life. I do know, however, that I've never been able to keep up with my research at the pace that was expected from me in graduate and postgraduate work. It made graduate school and my first post-doc fairly miserable for me, and got me a concerned talking-to at my second post-doc (cut short by our move to TX). It occurred to me at some point that I had learned about research expectations mostly from professors at large universities, who have truly dedicated their lives to research. That has never been my career goal, however-- I've always eyed a smaller college position with an emphasis on teaching and a research environment that was supportive but not overwhelming-- and so maybe I learned about research from the wrong people. If I only do research for a few hours a week, or mostly during the summer, I might not be Nobel Prize material, but I can still be a successful physicist who contributes (I hope).
Coming back to the article, it seems that we have these research advisors who are judging their students based on their own life path, rather than on what is right for the student. The former is a lot easier (it doesn't require learning about the individual student) so it's not surprising that this happens, but obviously it's a problem.
OK, enough of that. :)
