Impediments to Women's Advancement As Seen by a Transgendered Person
Hi friends of women in science,
Recently, the New Republic has run several articles on issues holding back women in STEM fields. Susan Forsburg alerted me to one by Jessica Nordell on August 28, with Ben Barres' insights into what holds women back. As you may know, Barres is a transgendered professor at Stanford; he was a woman academic scientist before he was transgendered, so he is one of a handful of people who has really experienced American science from the perspective of both genders. As Nordell says, "Their experience is as close to the scientific method as we can get: By isolating and manipulating gender as a variable and holding all other variables-skill, career, personality, talent-constant, these individuals reveal exactly the way one's outward appearance of gender affects day-to-day interactions."
When he was Barbara, listeners often put down her ideas, for example saying her boyfriend must have figured that out. When he became Ben, his opinions were treated with much more respect. His conclusion about why more women aren't rising to the top in science, as quoted by Nordell, is '"Not childcare. Not family responsibilities," he says. "I have had the thought a million times: I am taken more seriously."' Ben Barres noted that it felt strange not to be doubted, not to have to defend his positions.
Nordell also discussed what happened when another Stanford professor, Jonathan Roughgarden, underwent transgendering and became Joan Roughgarden. She told Nordell, '"men are assumed to be competent until proven otherwise, whereas a woman is assumed to be incompetent until she proves otherwise." In an interview, Roughgarden also noted that if she questioned a mathematical idea, people assumed it was because she didn't understand it.' So in becoming a woman specializing in complex calculations predicting evolutionary trends, Joan Roughgarden lost credibility.
The article's overall conclusion, weaving in insights from a new book on the experiences of transgendered people by Schilt, was that what holds women back is gender stereotypes from which unconscious prejudices arise. Men privilege other men, and it's invisible except to those who switch gender. Nordell points out the small sample size and also possible effects of a new comfort in transmen after the change and some effects of testosterone that could influence behavior. However, she urges more in depth study to sort out the effects of these variables, and overall tends to agree with the interviewed transgendered people that bias is a big factor holding back women in STEM fields.
What do you think? Is this "the perfect experiment" about what holds women in science back from full success?
cheers,
Laura
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Laura--thanks to you and Susan for pointing us to the article.I felt the difference in how I was treated in my home institution after I had "proved it" compared to traveling at conferences. Ben's observations are in line with what I have always viewed as the difference in how women are "sized up". Anyone who goes to a woman focused conference will feel the difference immediately.
But how to change a bias that is socially engrained and unconscious?
completely agree about the earned versus assumed credibility difference. True in the classroom, the lab, the academic department, the corporate workplace, and an f those on the east coast or west coast--I've got a good sample across many contexts, and the bias is consistent everywhere.
Hi Small Science Woman,
One of the poignant remarks that is often quoted from Barres is that someone (or maybe more than one person) said he was so much smarter than his sister (actually, himself as Barbara. He has no sister.) Well, he isn't smarter, he's the same person. But added credibility comes with maleness, evidently.
cheers,
Laura
Laura-- I have found Ben Barres' public comments about this issue very cogent and convincing for years now. It's true there's a small sample size, but with a carefully designed study, I'd bet the other issues you mentioned could be sorted out. I suspect it's unconscious bias, as the article (and you) said.
SSW
