Monday, September 25, 2006
back again to the problem of 'women'
Last week the National Academy of Sciences released a study entitled; Beyond Bias and Barriers: Fulfilling the potential of women in academic science and engineering. The report investigated many reasons why women are underrepresented in science and engineering faculties. The following bullet points describe their findings:
1. Women have the ability and drive to succeed. (Lawrence Summer’s-type hypotheses hold no water).
2. Women who are interested in science and engineering careers are lost at every educational transition. (fewer of us in grad school than undergrad, fewer women postdocs than grad students, and very few faculty)
3. The problem is not simply the pipeline. (Although there may be fewer women than men applying for faculty positions, this is not enough to explain the discrepancy)
4. Women are very likely to face discrimination in every field of science and engineering. (self explanatory?)
5. A substantial body of evidence establishes that most people- men and women- hold implicit biases.
6. Evaluation criteria contain arbitrary and subjective components that disadvantage women. (faculty are evaluated based on the opinions of senior faculty, and also on characteristics such as assertiveness and single-mindedness. Other characteristics, flexibility, diplomacy, motivation, etc are not taken into consideration)
7. Academic organizational structures and rules contribute significantly to the under use of women in academic science and engineering. (the whole tenure system is built around the concept that a faculty member has a spouse at home to take of ‘home life’ so they can focus on research and scholarship- this is an outdated model, for women as well as men)
8. The consequence of not acting will be detrimental to the nation’s competitiveness.
Whenever I read these types of reports I am always discouraged by the whole ‘so what do we do about it?’ There is no real answer- the system is old, and universal, and not likely to change anytime soon. And one inescapable fact is that the academic job market is extremely competitive, and there will always be sacrifices made for the job. In fact, this is true across the board for women in a variety of fields.
Nothing will change until the society as a whole begins to value the family, and parenthood, more. On the whole, we should have more vacation and be working fewer hours. We should have more infrastructures such as daycare at work, or money towards daycare for women who choose to go back to work.
1. Women have the ability and drive to succeed. (Lawrence Summer’s-type hypotheses hold no water).
2. Women who are interested in science and engineering careers are lost at every educational transition. (fewer of us in grad school than undergrad, fewer women postdocs than grad students, and very few faculty)
3. The problem is not simply the pipeline. (Although there may be fewer women than men applying for faculty positions, this is not enough to explain the discrepancy)
4. Women are very likely to face discrimination in every field of science and engineering. (self explanatory?)
5. A substantial body of evidence establishes that most people- men and women- hold implicit biases.
6. Evaluation criteria contain arbitrary and subjective components that disadvantage women. (faculty are evaluated based on the opinions of senior faculty, and also on characteristics such as assertiveness and single-mindedness. Other characteristics, flexibility, diplomacy, motivation, etc are not taken into consideration)
7. Academic organizational structures and rules contribute significantly to the under use of women in academic science and engineering. (the whole tenure system is built around the concept that a faculty member has a spouse at home to take of ‘home life’ so they can focus on research and scholarship- this is an outdated model, for women as well as men)
8. The consequence of not acting will be detrimental to the nation’s competitiveness.
Whenever I read these types of reports I am always discouraged by the whole ‘so what do we do about it?’ There is no real answer- the system is old, and universal, and not likely to change anytime soon. And one inescapable fact is that the academic job market is extremely competitive, and there will always be sacrifices made for the job. In fact, this is true across the board for women in a variety of fields.
Nothing will change until the society as a whole begins to value the family, and parenthood, more. On the whole, we should have more vacation and be working fewer hours. We should have more infrastructures such as daycare at work, or money towards daycare for women who choose to go back to work.
# posted by Sarah : 11:32 PM
