Minions and Muffins, the Time Has Come*!
Oh so long ago, I declared my intention to lie prostrate on the ground and beg various female professor bloggers to volunteer to answer questions about being a woman in academia (I also took volunteers that didn't know any better were so kindly willing to edumacate the masses). With the Explicit Rule that there will be no talking of baby-having/rearing/napping/snuggles.
Various awesome individuals have answered the call, and here I reveal the illustrious panel:
Return of Seasoned Panel Vets:
Geek Mommy Prof of Academic Jungle
With new Guest appearances by:
Pascale Lane of Whizbang!
Kate Clancy of Context and Variation
KJHaxton of Endless Possibilities v3.0
Dr. Sneetch of The Sneetch Blog
Is this panel not really FRACKING AWESOME OMG?!!11!!?
BUT WAIT THAT'S NOT ALL.
Some really super awesome postdocs went off and volunteered themselves also. So we will now have TWO panels: The prof panel (listed above), and the postdoc panel (listed below).
Nina of KiwiHorizons
Dr. Zeek from Confessions of a self-admitted Nerd Girl
This is as close to a D-List Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/New Year's you're going to get, so wave those streamers of love and appreciation! They have all consented to answer four questions about how to be a Rockstar Academic. I am opening my blog (and email, and twitter) from now until next Thursday (07/14) to the blogger community to suggest questions that will be submitted the panel. I will sift through the questions and select the 4 to be discussed (so send all your angry emails to me if you question doesn't get picked). So put your scrivener caps on and come up with some awesome questions for me to take credit for for us to discuss!
*Yes, I plagiarized myself from last year. And I am not even sorry unless you want to come write my proposals for me.
Cut and pasted from your post calling for panelists... hadn't realized that wasn't also a call for questions, sorry.
What is the role of women's spaces in our academic lives? Is it just for women to hang out with each other, or is it a place for active mentoring and career advice, or both, or something else? Given that a lot of the discussion in these places is general career advice, should it be opened up to males, so that they can benefit from the wisdom in the room? How does this change, if, for instance, there are no female faculty to run such a space?
I've heard a lot of different views on this issue in my field. I'd be interesting to see what people think in other fields.
Are generational differences between women in science real or a product of position (post-doc, new prof, established prof, director, etc)? Or can that be separated at all? To explain that question a little more it is said that women in electrophysiology (a male-dominated field) are less trusting of new women. This is thought to be because they had to work "harder" to get to where they were.
Actually that leads me to another (not really science specific) question. How often are we, not the old boys club, standing in other's way? And how can we reduce that?
Yay, postdocs!
When is "shop talk/water cooler" talk OK? How do you establish that boundary with your male (and female) colleagues.
Where can I get that T-shirt? The wife complains frequently about certain students and post-docs in her lab that are always going on about their babies. Though I don't think she could get away with actually wearing it at work.
A re-asking of my previous question: for those of us who like things like pink, skirts, baking, sewing, knitting, heels, makeup, and other things girlie, how important is it to NOT do / wear / talk about these things lest we be seen as fluffy girls who can't do Science? Do any of the panelists have anecdata about definitely taking a credibility hit for these things.
oooh, a good one, but i'd be very surprised if there were data here.
there was some study that involved a woman dropping either a tampon or hair clip from her bag, and it looked at how the object dropped affected observers' attitudes toward the woman. (okay, fine, found it: http://pwq.sagepub.com/content/26/2/131.abstract) it would be interesting to see what effect clothes have. even design. i like art and keep a clean, attractive desk. aside from this, i've noticed i'm exceedingly ungirly at work, mostly out of fear/pressure; the girly ones are all admin. i hate that this is true, but i feel i'm up against enough stereotypes as it is. my field is mostly male-dominated.
On the other side of this coin, for those of us who are more butch by nature, what do we do about the idea that we harm the our field's ability to attract more women because we're insufficiently girly (and thus scare off other women, because they think they'll have to be like us)? Are we actually scaring off anyone, or is this just paranoia? What can we do to show women (not to mention, girls who are considering scientific careers) who are into more traditionally feminine things, that they are welcome, without having to erase ourselves and our gender presentations and interests from the public image of our field?
Being a woman, you will often be asked/expected to represent all women, especially in your field. It's idiotic but true. Best to learn to ignore it. It gets better with time/age.
I'm not very feminine, and I am tall and loud. I always wear pants, but also wear some make-up and medium-sized heels. And I have kids.
Have I dissuaded feminine, petite, and/or quiet women from entering my field? Or women who wear high heels, or women who don't want kids? Gosh, I hope not. The point is, I am still a woman so still have lots in more common than most women than any guy. As for the public image of the field, many STEM fields are beyond salvation -- their public image is a couple of nerdy guys in mom's basement with a computer and/or a screwdriver. You cannot help there even if you wear a pink tutu every day.
For the professor panel:
While the professorial dress code for men seems fairly straightforward (trousers, collared shirt, maybe a tie, maybe a jacket), women's fashion has many more options. What are your wardrobe staples for lecturing and presentations? Also, do you find that you can't dress as casually as male professors?
For the post-docs:
When you were looking for your post-doctoral position, how (if you knew) did you know that your PI would treat you fairly?
For either group:
Are you more or less likely to mentor a younger female student based on your experiences?
Question for either panel:
How do you deal with imposter syndrome? I've been to several workshops that discuss IS, how to identify that you have it, and reassurances that "you are not alone", but have heard little in the way of useful, concrete methods to get through it/past it. (of course, this question assumes that the panelists have experienced IS, which they may not have at all).
Ditto. I find that maintaining self-confidence in my abilities for long stretches between results is hard, especially because I do relatively solitary work.
ignore it. do your shit, move on. Or, as Dr. Isis might say: http://scienceblogs.com/isisthescientist/2011/04/shut_the_hell_up_about_your_im.php
My question is, how would you interact or deal with people who pointedly ask why you exited academia and/or make assumptions about your career choices that have to do with you being a woman? Are there any talking points or tips that you've found helpful in your careers?
I realize that you might still be in academia, but I'm sure you know people who have made this choice. I recently received my PhD but am not going to stay in academia. Ever since I got married last summer (I don't have any you-know-whats and don't plan to for a while), I have fielded frequent comments about why I don't want to go the post-doc/faculty route. These comments usually center on my being married or a woman, and I'd like to be prepared to have discussions that don't focus on my married status.
I second the questions on faculty wardrobe and imposter syndrome. With wardrobe, are there any suggestions about how to look professorial as a young (and young looking and smallish) TT faculty? I always seem to always look like a grad student or an administrator. Suggestions for footwear also appreciated for those of us who don't do heels.
With impostor syndrome, how do you train yourself to look and appear confident, when you are not? And how to navigate the balance between soft-touch and bitch?
I also had a third question on building networks. It seems to me that often women don't have as strong professional networks as men - the kind that gets built over shared interests (sports or drinking). People seem to gravitate towards others like them. What specific advice do you have for establishing and maintaining network with men as well as other women?
I like all of these questions, especially the third. I've realized that some men who arrived after me are way ahead of me in networking with the group, in large part due to sports. I don't feel actively excluded, but as Schelling has shown, all it takes is a bit of homophily to get a lot of segregation. I'm worried that I also don't "joke around" as well (these guys seem to like to drop into each other's offices at random times to shoot the breeze; I feel like I can't work without clear "on" and "off" times).
Mostly, I feel like I don't have the same kind of social edge. Bummer that science can feel so much like a popularity contest.
As a junior female academic in a technical field with very few women, I'd like to ask how do you deal when you meet older female colleagues who are jealous of you and who attempt to thwart your progression? This has happened to me with a woman who is about 20 years older and quite successful . She has seemingly never had a problem with any of my junior male colleagues, but she is consistenly treating me with disrespect and trying to make things difficult for me. I think her reasoning must be something like that since she had it tough in her career, I should also have it tough. I think this phenomenon even has a name (queen bee syndrome).
So perhaps the panel could elaborate on this, what to do when women don't support younger women?
are you really sure they are "jealous of you"? I agree there are some senior women that don't seem as supportive as you might like. But I suspect they are trying to help, not "thwart your progress".
I'm in a group with a male PI and 5 male grad students in a physical sciences department. I'm the only female and the only postdoc. I am also the only female postdoc in my department. Some situations, such as making group travel plans (i.e. hotel reservations, etc.) are a bit hairy as a result of me being the lone female in the group. My needs are intrinsically the same as the rest of my group, but my receiving different treatment than the men in my group is unavoidable in some instances (i.e. I do not have the option of just rooming with my workmates at conferences, as do the rest of my group.) I'm generally not comfortable rooming with strangers and it is not always possible to arrange to share a room with colleagues from other institutes. I worry that it is becoming a barrier for sending me to conferences as sending two men would require only one room, while sending me and a man requires two rooms.
I wonder if the panelists could comment on how they've dealt with situations like these, where they couldn't help but be singled out within their group or department for no reason other than that they are female.
As I am becoming a more senior post-doc in the lab more and more questions and mentoring are coming my way. I swear every question begins with "I know you are really busy but...". I take my mentoring responsibilities seriously. However, is there some diplomatic way to try to gently let my professor know that I am rapidly reaching my carrying capacity for papers, projects, experiments, and students without making him think I am being a lazy bastard? (Background: My professor works nights and weekends and is a severe workaholic).
Herm, if you are taking suggestions I vote for this one. I am curious to hear what the panel has to say
As a PI I'd advise you to just share your concerns directly. Most of us (or at least some) are reasonable people and are most likely not maintaining a complete list of all the responsibilities of each member of their lab all the time. We won't know how you feel unless you tell us.
Well now, I turn my attention to other things for a couple of months and look what happens? Hermie has a new lair. Nice digs...might wanna get a dog of some sort of guarding dog type...for snuggles, of course.
My sincere admiration is in order here for you taking this endeavor on. I am watching impatiently.
I'd love to hear the answers to any and all of these questions, but I'll add my own. What can we do when other women deny there are problems being a woman in science? Such as, not at our institute, not in our field, it's a post-feminist world, etc... It makes it so much more difficult for real issue to be aired when there are women saying "I don't experience that so it doesn't happen" or some derivative thereof.
Rock out those proposals, Hermitage!!! \m/