Feminism of the Future?
On June 22, the New York Times published an article by Kathryn Bennhold, "The Female Factor: Feminism of the Future Relies on Men." I was immediately attracted to the title because I think if you want to solve a problem, it's best to address the source of the problem. For the paucity of women in science, I believe the problem is in the minds of some powerful men. In the aricle, Bennhold discusses her mother who became an engineer in Germany early on, and who said it was about "women pushing into the world of men." She had trouble with bathroom location, which was also a problem I faced in graduate school. But never mind about that for now. Bennhold argues that "the feminism of the future is shaping up to be about pulling men into women's universe - as involved dads, equal partners at home and ambassadors for gender equality from the cabinet office to the boardroom." All that in the face of a society in which men seem to be disappearing from many venues.
She argues that the most important factor is the needed equivalence of motherhood and fatherhood. We must "level the playing field at home," and that will require men to take fatherhood leaves with good pay, to seriously reject night meetings as an invasion of family time, in general to act like women about the importance of family. Can this happen? Apparently, it already is happening in Scandinavian countries to a significant degree. In the US, most parental leave is granted to women, but in Nordic countries, nine in ten men who have children take parental leave. Men took the lead in getting this leave for both genders, and also took the lead championing "Norway's boardroom quota obliging companies to fill at least 40 percent of the seats with women." This is the type of law that has allowed parity of genders in academia up to full professors in Finland's academic ranks. We could do it too, but we need men to agree that it would be valuable.
Has anyone seen cases where men take the lead in working for gender equity in the US?
A Never. It's always the women. Look at Nancy Hopkins at MIT!
B Yes, I've seen this happen. (Tell us about it!)
C I think it could happen, but I've never actually seen it.
I agree Laura that we want men to care about work/life balance. Your example and Nancy Hopkins are both terrific ones. The best advocates are men who have "seen the light" through their own experiences (regretting not getting to know their children sometimes) or awareness through a spouse or yes, their daughters. These male authority figures provide leadership to other men in changing the culture of in your case infrastructure of where we work. I say get more of them on our side. Advocacy when it's honest and direct seems to work best in my experience to convincing men that things need to change. And sometimes it's the only way to get that change when the women faculty are too tired of fighting, afraid of being seen as a complainer or just plain overcommited.
Hi everyone,
I noticed that Jack Stark, male president of Claremont McKenna College, was the one who insisted that a good child care facility be built at the Claremont Colleges. When the other presidents demured about financing it, he got his own trustees to put up all the money. So he's an example of what we want, at least in this case.
cheers,
Laura
I agree with R1 professor. I haven't seen this kind of leadership in men where I've been. I would love to see it, though. Maybe they're waiting for women to step out and get the ball rolling, as Nancy Hopkins and her committee did at MIT? I haven't felt like I had time (or to be honest, inclination) to take on this role. But it might be necessary for someone to do it.
I would say C. I haven't seen this, but I'm sure Nancy Hopkins at MIT wouldn't say a male dean helped unless that was true. I wish I could find such a male dean. The ones I know are happy to have women in science do all the teaching and committee work and reward the male profs for their research kudos, passing over us women for the big raises. I'm not a happy camper.
I'm dubious. For myself, I'd say A. Sometimes a few men get on board once the ball is rolling, but I don't see them collecting the data on what's wrong or putting forward suggestions about childcare leaves anyplace where I've been. FBP
I agree that people do take notice when men in positions of leadership push for the advancement of women in science, and that this can make a huge difference. For example, the head of the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) program at Brown University is David Targan, also Dean of Science. He takes an active interest in reducing attrition among science students (women and minorities in general) and really thinks hard about it. Check out the interview we did with him here: http://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/natureedcast/episode_3_david_targan_and
Heck yeah, men should be as noisy as women in their requests for parental leave and parental concerns—such as childcare!! I have remarked before in this forum , in the first Tierney post, on how Universities that offer /subsidize childcare for academics on very low salaries would be able to improve the presence of women at higher ranks, and allow them to work less encumbered through the crucial postdoc and early career years. But this would also help out men who share the childcare burden more and more. Truth is, everyone needs this, everybody would win. I say, go ahead and LET the issues of men get confused with issues of women. Seems like the only way to make the issues more visible sometimes. Also I think this would change the landscape of opportunity for women quite a bit! It’s so so so great that men do more women's sphere stuff these days, and maybe that’s only way that they will see what’s needed to make opportunities more equal for men and women.
Hi Both ways now,
I've heard that from Nancy Hopkins too. When I interviewed her for AWIS Magazine, she told me that without a highly supportive VP at MIT, the changes she recommended with her committee would not have taken off. Now that leadership has changed, the changes have stalled.
cheers,
Laura
Hi,
I think B. I've seen a male administrator at my institution take this issue up and really try to make progress increasing women in science.
