Sunday 16 November 2008

The junior WiSET talk about sex/discrimination

So I mention at a party (did I say I went to a party in another city to get away from it all? most relaxing, I recommend it) that I am PhD-ing. The following conversation ensues. J is a female undergraduate in engineering, and the 1st sentence is her primary response.

J: So is it mostly men in your lab? Is there much discrimination?
A: Oh yeah! Well, actually it varies. All the techs and 9 in 10 of PhD students are female, post-docs about 50/50, but PIs and above are all male. I can't work it out - it might be just time-lag. On the other hand, of the post-docs who are leaving soon, the male one is going to a PI position and the female ones are leaving research science for [publishing].
J: Yeah, in my course it's like 50/50 at undergrad but all the PhDs and lecturers are male.
A: Do you ever get the feeling that male students...
J:... get a bit more attention?
A: Yeah. Our one male PhD student is like his PI's golden boy, and the rest of us mostly just see post docs. (A/N and in my case, lab protocols scrounged off the internet. Thanks, Protocol Online!)
J: Yeah, I get that a lot. It's the same for us in lab pracs. Screw them, I'm going into [service-related subfield]. Want some cheesecake?
A: Oh man, that looks AWESOME. Look at the rasberries.

It's so nice to have a geographically universal topic for parties.

Wait.

I think what I meant to say was;

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1 comment:

Phd Girl said...

I'm lucky I guess that my particular brand of social science has a pretty even female:male split in all the levels. However, most of the senior female faculty don't have kids/spouses, indicating something to me... at the very least that they chose not to balance, likely that at least some felt they couldn't.

I've been reading Dr Isis and the recent discussion there (and elsewhere) about how science women construct their gendered persona and the possibilities that are "permitted" and "prohibited". Interesting reading...

the blanket sexism that you and others describe is horrifying to me. At least the stuff I deal with is the subtle leftovers. Ugh.