Tuesday, December 4, 2007

On going back to work, Part 4 of Infinity

Today, for the departmental journal club, a PI noted for being a family-focused male PI (yes, they do exist!), presented a paper on the retention of women in science. Called "Falling off the academic bandwagon", the paper described the results of a self-report survey focused on identifying factors which affected the loss of women from life sciences and engineering.

One of the first things that the paper noted was that among the postdocs surveyed (over 1300 postdocs, men and women, at the NIH), women were three times more likely than men to state that plans to have children (or more children) were extremely important considerations in planning their career. The authors note that "this indicates that more women than men foresee family responsibilities as a possible source of conflict with their future professional life."

The paper itself was an interesting (if depressing) read, and served as a reminder that family concerns are a significant factor in the continual loss of women from the upper levels of science. While some institutions have given a nod towards family friendly policies (like Tenure-clock extension), in practice, most women are afraid to take advantage of such programs for fear of being viewed negatively by their department.

In my opinion, one of the major barriers to making true progress in retaining women in science is that the (largely male) powers that be have yet to truly accept that there is a problem. It's easy to hold up some of the amazing women who do combine family and tenure track (like ScienceWoman, Jane, and FemaleScienceProfessor) and say, "if they can do it, anyone can. You just have to want it enough."

But that attitude isn't productive. Yes, there are women out there who are able to find situations where they can make it work, but the numbers don't lie. It's not a matter of not wanting it enough, it a matter of not having the support necessary to raise and family and pursue a tenure track position. The female postdocs who participated in the NIH survey were 4.5 times less likely then the male postdocs to have a stay at home spouse. That factor alone will significantly impact the number of women who choose to pursue tenure track positions.

Dr. Bruce Alberts, the former president of the National Academy of Sciences, was quoted as saying "If you're going to be successful in science, it helps a lot to have a wife." (Note that most women do not have wives... or stay at home spouses) He goes on to imply that women are dropping out of science because they are not up to the challenge and leave science for motherhood because they don't have the same fortitude as men. "Science is really hard work, and if you don't feel this is the only option, you'll do something else."

When this kind of sexist crap is coming down from the top, it's no wonder that most of the top research institutes haven't made the changes that are really needed to keep women on the tenure-track career path.

The attitude is one where it's the woman's loss for not having the drive to stick it out. But I think it stems from a fundamental undervaluing of the contributions women could be making in science. When well-trained, talented women fall of the path to become leaders in science, it's not just their loss. It's a loss to science.

9 comments:

Kate said...

Well said! I especially appreciate your point at the end about women's loss vs. science's loss. Make sure this goes in the next Scientiae, regardless of the topic! :)

EcoGeoFemme said...

re: that last point. Don't they consider the resources that are spent to train someone through the post doc level that are wasted if the person leaves science? For the record, I don't think a person should consider this cost when deciding their career path, especially if they are miserable in science. However, when taken as a group, the cost of women dropping out is enormous.

Jane said...

Heh. After days like today, I have to say I don't feel like much of a success story....!

I think one of the big problems is that the "powers that be" tend to have stay-at-home spouses, so of course they don't see the problems. (Although one of the worst offenders in my department has a working spouse, and should know better....go figure.)

Excellent post!

The bean-mom said...

Well said, as always! I'm impressed that this was even discussed as a journal club paper in your department. Maybe things really are changing?

ScienceGirl said...

A tenured female professor in my department has made it her mission to change the university rules so that the time added to the tenure clock to accommodate maternity leave is given automatically rather than on request. I think that "maternity leave = tenure clock extension" makes sense and shouldn't have to be begged for.

ScienceMama said...

Not really a sign that things are changing. Though the PI that presented the paper was well-meaning, no one (even the women) really took the suggestions of the paper very seriously. There were several points where the audience even laughed out loud (for instance at the suggestion that a tenure track position could be designed as a job-share).

The bean-mom said...

Oh, your last comment is depressing, Sciencemama...

Jennie said...

Argh. I don't have access to that journal article. Oh well, appreciate the review/incites here.

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