Disappearing Women in Oceanography
Hi friends of women in science,
In my memoir, I mention that my first rejection as a woman in science was when a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientist told me I could not cruise on the Atlantis as all marine ecology students at Marine Biological Laboratory had been promised, because the sailors said a woman aboard was "bad luck." Susan Forsburg just sent me a disturbing update on that situation. I had been thinking things were much better, based on the great research by my junior colleague Nina Karnovsky, a marine seabird specialist who often samples from oceanographic vessels near Svalbard, Norway. But this article from Women in America online newsletter, featuring a study by LuAnn Thompson, a professor at University of Washington, opened my eyes.
Here is a quotation from it, "Professor Thompson's research shows that from 1980 to 2009, 28 percent of the men who earned a Ph.D. in oceanography obtained a tenure-track position. For women with oceanography doctorates, 23 percent were able to gain appointments to tenure-track positions in the period prior to 1995. But since then, only 8 percent of women earning a Ph.D. in oceanography were hired to tenure-track faculty posts." It sounds like perhaps once you get to about 20-25% women, men no longer see any need to hire more until those drop dead or leave. Approaching parity is not a top goal with them. I wonder if this problem is more widespread than we realize? It could explain the strange plateaus that occur after faculty diversity has risen.
What do you think?
Did you hear about that woman who interviewed in neuro at MIT and was told by a male Nobel laureate not to come? She went to the HHMI Janelia Farm I think. Maybe last year? Anyway, how anyone still think there is no prejudice seems wrong.
It would be one thing if entrenched men in science gave women in the pool a chance when they stopped thinking about increasing the percentage of women--but in my experience they don't. I don't know where Ceci's thinking comes in here, but women don't get a fair shake on search committees or award committees I've served on.
Hi Sunny,
My junior colleague whom I featured in that AWIS Magazine article told me last week she still runs into boat captains who will not take her aboard. Too bad this is still happening.
And Postdoc Cat, I agree with Emeritus! that looking at numbers of women faculty and asking them gentle questions about women's comfort levels is a great idea for job visits.
cheers,
Laura
I remember that article you wrote for AWIS Magazine about the women who work in the arctic mostly on boats, Laura. They mentioned some problems with the captains and sailors, but then another woman oceanographer wrote in and said no, she thought that was all in bygone times according to her own experience. We all think our own experience is the most important. I suspect today's captains/sailors include some who are still not comfortable with women, just like male senior professors.
Dear PD Cat, Hopefully you can get some insight into the situations in the various departments by looking at the numbers of women faculty and asking some of them about gender bias. Good luck!
I don't think this is as much of a problem in liberal arts colleges/small schools as perhaps it is in research-intensive R1 places. Not that we shouldn't work on it everywhere, but at least bio depts seem to be approaching half women at a lot of schools.
Uh Oh, FBP, I hate hearing that. I'm still going to be looking for a faculty job pretty soon, and I hope that people will look at me both for my skills and to help increase diversity. I wonder how widespread this attitude is?
I have actually heard older male faculty members on search committees say, "We've taken care of all that affirmative action c*** so we can just choose the best man for the job." Yes, I think once there are a few women hired, men think the job is done.
FBP
