Do Women Reject Experts?
Hi friends of women in science,
I recently met with a planning group to help put together a conference on the interface between STEM fields and Women's Studies. We discussed topics such as gender and the brain, hormonal control of behavior, using feminist pedagogy in physics, engineering, and other science related classes, structuring classes on gender in science, the status of research into differences in learning style, the status of new findings about women and science, etc. Then, one of the planners said, "Let's don't have a plenary lecture. Women don't respond well to pontification by experts and in fact, we don't like expertise in general."
I must admit, I haven't enjoyed canned lectures at events like this in the past. But I wasn't sure I recognized myself in the claim that women don't accept others' expertise. Now if you're talking about my own expertise, yes, I often question it, and I've come to believe that unease about one's own status as an expert may be a characteristic of women in science at all levels. But I do like to hear the latest about whether brains differ with sex from an expert who can evaluate the evidence. I do want to hear an expert's views on miRNA in cancer. So I am a bit unhappy with this blanket statement.
What do you think?
A. Yes, women (scientific or not) do, in my experience, resist experts and reject expertise.
B. I've seen some evidence of anti-expertise but I don't identify with it myself.
C. No, I don't see anti-expertise at all, or only very rarely.
I feel pretty sympathetic to feminist approaches in general, but I don't get this one. Aren't women experts? Don't we want to support and validate them?
Yep, it's all in the attitude. If we ran the universe, maybe everyone would be expected to think, contribute, build together. So, I pick A although I've barely seen anyone in my field give it a try.
Hi postdoc cat,
As I said, I'm learning about this idea, but from what I understand, it's more how the expertise is shared, i.e. not in an "I'm smarter than you, so sit down and take notes," way. I've had some good experiences with collaborative learning when I've planned it into classes. I must say, it's probably because I'm old and grew up with it, but lectures do work for me when I want to learn something I know little about. But I understand not everyone feels that way.
cheers,
Laura
I don't think anyone would go to grad school if she didn't think she could learn from an expert. There are classes and then there's your lab mentor: all experts. I don't see when or how you might find a system without expertise.
Hi all,
I'm hoping to have a chance to try how this management style feels to one of the old guard in this conference on Women in Science we're putting together. I will post about my experiences for sure. It should be interesting!
cheers,
Laura
C for me. I don't see this at all; this is the first time I've heard any thing about it. I kind of like the idea of horizontal organization, though.
Hi confused,
I think you might get used to it if you gave it a try. Like any new way of proceding, it's strange at first. Women know a lot, and there can be mutual respect in sharing what they know with each other. Like any group, it helps for them to know each other fairly well to begin with.
I don't really get it. Reading Small Science Woman's comment, I felt disconnected. Would I really accept as expertise a disconnected observation about brain function from a woman who might have taken it from a context that isn't strongly scientific? No, I wouldn't. I would find this way of proceeding very disturbing too.
A I've been convinced by my friends in women's studies that it works better to let everyone contribute their expertise in the context of a collaborative project, not a featured lecture or similar event. I'm not sure this wouldn't work better for men too. To me, it's an aspect of active learning. Let it come when needed, and let it fit organically into what people are doing.
B Every so often I run into this, usually when I'm planning something with my junior women colleagues. It doesn't really resonate with me. If someone knows about a field, why not learn it from her/him? Might disempower knowledgeable women if women refuse to recognise expertise, I'd say. FBP
