Women Have Their Reasons
Dear Friends of Women in Science,
Susan Forsburg alerted me recently to a new study, based in UK, of the reasons why professors leave academia as reported by Curt Rice in the Guardian. The data he discussed was from "The Chemistry PhD: The Impact of Women's REtention," a report for the UK Resource Center for Women in SET and the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Women by the end of year 3 of training don't want a career as a chemistry professor. Only 12% of third year women PhD students in the study said they want a career in academia. The three factors they report contributing to this decision are first, that what academics have to do to get funds and make a successful career doesn't look attractive to them, second, that they come to believe that as women, the impediments they will run into are worse than what men will encounter, and third, that the sacrifices expected of them will be beyond what they are willing to give up.
The study was a longitudinal one, following PhD candidates who had begun studies with with 72% of women saying they were interested in chemistry research careers, but in year 3, it was down to 37%. As noted above, only 12% were interested in acadmia. During the same time frame, even men have lost some enthusiasm, going down from 61% to 59% in their continuing interest in chemistry research; however, only 21% of the men have any interest in academia in year 3. These results have the sponsoring agencies worried about the future of academia. It's one thing to have high hurdles and demand big sacrifices for a career people want to go into, but if no one really wants it when they see the cost, where will they find professors? Maybe the academic enviroment will have to recognize some human needs, including reasonable time off, flexible hours, child-related needs, and plain old respect? Time will tell how they/we respond.
cheers,
Laura
Hi Helen and Sherrie B,
I agree. I certainly heard a lot of dismay about politics and how science shouldn't be so political among the grad students and postdocs at Caltech when I was there twice on sabbatical leave. People would sit around and swap stories about this, leaving everyone feeling queasy about any possible career in academia. I'm sure every field is political in academia, but it's harder to take in science since people expect rational, logical, reasonable minds!
cheers,
Laura
Hi Laura,
I think Sherrie B is right about the role of politics. You can see in grad school how it affects your PI and the ones on your committee and department. And it makes the job look less attractive. Certainly it's why I left. I got tired of being told that I had to wait and play by the rules if I ever wanted to change things. And if you wait ten years and the rules have helped you get there, will you still want to change them by then?!
I don't see why the funding agencies would be concerned though. That is still a high percentage given the high PhD production. Thus although it means less competition for those academic jobs, you'll still get really talented (and committed) folks in academia. I doubt their supply will dry up so much that actual change is required to fill that pipeline!
And because young people are more aware of what it takes to make it, you're less likely to keep folks like me who want to promote change in the pipeline that long. Thus it creates a nice and stable system. I would have thought that would please the powers that be...interesting that it did not!
Perhaps some of the disappointment and desire to leave after being a part of the academia environment comes from the disillusionment of realizing that even though academia, by definition is supposed to be this environment of learning and growth--a place where we're supposed to teach critical thinking and how to develop independant perspectives; what's fair and equatable, etc., too often when it comes to the politics of academia, if you don't play by the established, often archaic rules, you're marginalized, and if you actually try to stand up for yourself you're even further ostracised. In addition I think a lot of women expect to get more support from other women who have already established themselves in their respective fields and this doesn't always happen. Thus some women end up making the decision to leave instead of just working within the "system" so to speak. If they're going to face the same types of injustices that they'd face in the corporate world where you expect to meet more "sharks", then perhaps some women feel that they might as well be in the corporate world and at least earn a decent salay to compensate for all the minutia, or not work outside the home at all and devote their precious energy to their families.
Dear Laura,
Well, this is interesting but who knows if it applies to the US? And if it does, you can be sure women of color will be out of here before the rest, feeling more pressure and visualizing fewer rewards. I think Carol W is right, though. If you make the situation attractive for women (and for women of color), men will love it too.
BR
Hi Laura,
This reminds me of that study you like to quote of how to get more physics students using an intro course helping low income people insulate a house. What I mean, of course, is that neither women NOR men think academia makes an attractive career choice, just like both women and men chose more physics when it helped people. So if we make academia more habitable for women, both men and women will find it better, more pleasant, more attractive. I believe it's so!
CRW
