I just wanted to write a short post to recommend that you all go and read this post by my friend Bug Girl about her experiences with sexism in entomology. I am proud to call Bug Girl my friend. Bug Girl is a fellow Skepchick, and I've known her for a long time through skeptical circles. Bug Girl was very supportive and encouraging of me when I was studying science back in undergrad, and she continues to be an inspiration for me.
I wish I could say that I have never encountered sexism in my own academic experiences, but unfortunately I have. I do not remember encountering any sexism (at least, nothing too blatant) during my undergrad days at Dartmouth. However, I have encountered sexism at MIT a number of times, ranging from subtle to blatant. Actually, some of the sexism I encountered at MIT contributed to my decision to leave my first advisor after passing my PhD qualifying exam. There were many factors that influenced my decision, and one of them was that I did not feel that the environment at MIT was particularly encouraging for young female scientists. And I was not the only young woman to leave my lab group. Two of us left at about the same time, actually. I still bitterly remember one particular comment, said to me after I mentioned that I was tired after a long shift on a summer research cruise. A male lab technician (not my first advisor, fortunately) from MIT said to me, "You know, if science is too difficult, it's not too late to become a housewife." He laughed and said he was joking, but the comment stung nevertheless.
Recently, I recounted the story of the housewife comment to my current advisor, who is a woman. She was a graduate student back in the 1970s, and I'm sure she encountered much worse sexism than that during graduate school. Shaking her head, she said to me, "You know, I thought we'd moved past comments like that." I think that says it all. Please, let us move past this sexism.
Things are improving, and fortunately I have never encountered the level of sexism that Bug Girl encountered. I am very impressed at how she managed to persevere in spite of all the blatant sexism. There is still a long way to go to combat sexism in science, but at least progress is being made.
Thanks! *blush*
ReplyDeleteAnd urg, I would have completely lost it if someone had made that housewife comment to me. Fortunately, usually when stuff like that happens I tend to just stand there with my mouth hanging open.
And you have your PhD now--so NEENER to all the haters ;p
Bug: yeah, when that housewife comment was made that's pretty much what I did... stand there in shock and say nothing... later on when the same person made similar comments to me, I stood up to him. Well, kinda sorta. When I finally made the decision to leave the lab, I reported his behavior to the female head of the department, and let's just say she's tough as nails and was *not* impressed. So I guess that counts as standing up.
ReplyDeleteDon't quite have my PhD yet, but I have passed both my qualifying exam and my thesis proposal. I should defend either at the end of 2011 or early in 2012 and will graduate with the class of 2012. Just have to survive a few more months of grad school!
I don't feel like I've experienced or witnessed much sexism at Columbia, maybe because most of the graduate students in my department are female, and all of my adviser's current grad students are female and I think he is a very supportive adviser. But I think even when there isn't blatant sexism (or perhaps not any at all), you end up having to wonder about what's driving people's comments and actions and even your own decisions.
ReplyDeleteI am not entirely sure what I want to do when I finish my PhD. I've always thought I'd like to be a professor, but I also often have my doubts and sometimes I think I would be happier in a position more about education than research. So, at the beginning of this year when was meeting with my adviser and he asked me if I was planning to do a post-doc once I finish (note I am still about 2 years from finishing now), I didn't exactly give a very clear answer, to which he replied "Well it's something you should be thinking about, or do you just want to play tennis?" The tennis comment is in reference to my mom, who stopped working to raise the kids and as we got older rather than returning to work, she took on volunteer projects and hobbies and she plays a lot of tennis these days. He's made a couple of these tennis playing / lawyer's wife (my boyfriend is a pretty well-paid lawyer) comments... Are there sexist undertones here? Is he joking or making a jab? Or is he just saying that person should really consider the whole spectrum of options available to them after graduation and follow the path that makes them happiest, and if so, would he feel the same advice applies to male grad students?
Lisa: It sounds like your advisor is just watching out for you and trying to push you, but there's *definitely* sexist undertones in the tennis/lawyer's wife comments. I wonder if he would say such things to a male graduate student? Maybe he would.
ReplyDeleteNo, he never would say that to a male student. It's really passive aggressive.
ReplyDeleteIf he really wanted you to follow your bliss, he could...tell you that he supported you in whatever you choose. Not make snarky comments.
Some of that is probably coming from his lack of knowledge about career paths other than academia. Many profs are not comfortable talking about industry/other options, and tend to see it as a "cop out".
My 10 cents.
You amazed me!!! Thanks!
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