sexism in science organize organize

Sexism in science: organize, organize, organize!

On Friday, Ben Barres (Stanford) and Nancy Hopkins (MIT) were at MIT

to talk about women in science -- they were panelists, had some

opening remarks, and then the idea was to open the forum up so that

the audience could speak about their experiences and feel less

isolated, as well as ask the panelists questions. The forum was open

to the public.

At first, the panel was fantastic -- Hopkins had some great graphs

from work she had done on a study on women faculty at MIT (you know,

the big one from 2001 or so) and Barres had some great stories about

what his experiences had been as a woman in science, and now over the

last years as a man in science (he is transgender). You can search for

the 2006 Nature article to get his whole story (or email me for the

pdf). I worried a bit when Barres kept talking about how women had to

take this into their own hands and how he just didn't understand why

more women didn't speak up when things went wrong. But in all, I think

a lot of us younger female scientists felt like their might be some

allies in the faculty after all.

During the question and answer period (which, again, was stated to be

for the younger scientists in the room) lots of faculty and

administrators started trying to speak, to toot Hopkins' and Barres'

horns, their own horns, their non-profit's horns, etc. The grad

student doing the moderating was clearly getting annoyed and was doing

a great job trying to shut those folks down and get grad students to

talk.

I couldn't bear it. So of course I raised my hand.

I talked briefly about my experiences as a grad student, touching

really only on the problem where my dept was all male faculty and

primarily female grads, and that the faculty only hung out socially

with the few male grads. I said it was one of the most oppressive

situations I've ever been in. I mentioned mentoring was heterogeneous

and that women and people of color were the ones to get shafted. So

then I asked (though I was so nervous that I really fudged this part)

whether they thought mentoring should go into tenure review and

contract review processes.

Both Hopkins and Barres advised me that I should have gotten out of

the situation, and that I should have talked to someone about it. Are

you fucking KIDDING me? I shouted over the increasing din (because I

was not the only one pissed to hear this 'advice') that I had allies

by being a union organizer for five years. Hopkins just said, "Oh,

well, um yes."

Thankfully, my question opened the floodgates (not because I had been

eloquent -- I really was too shaky and angry to make a lot of sense --

but because they were waiting to be opened by the tiniest thing) and a

number of young women got up to tell their stories and say how

ridiculous it is to simply tell women to get out of bad situations.

It's not always that easy, and it doesn't seem fair to penalize women

when men in the same situations are doing fine (or excelling).

I don't remember it all, likely because I was so upset, but women and

men, white folks and people of color, all spoke really wonderfully

about the issue. Here are a few small highlights:

* First, before I discuss these 'authoritative' speakers, try to

imagine the sound of fifty to seventy five angry young women

buzzing and being outcompeted by faculty who wanted to speak. Then

imagine the sound of a dozen or so angry young women who did

speak, and who all shared similar stories of being ignored, of not

being taken seriously, of being harassed, of being told they were

only in grad school for affirmative action because they were black

(yes, to their face, and this is something I have heard said about

women of color I know too), of having their work stolen by male

faculty, and more.

* A research administrator said that her office and human resources

are the best places for women to go if they feel they're facing

discrimination, especially relating to pay/resources. HR and

research admin folks are not going to lose their jobs for telling

a chair that he's paying the women in his department 40% less than

his men, and she can also get her boss in there to make the point.

* An older black male prof who I don't know spoke wonderfully about

the "subtle" racism and sexism we are facing today. He talked

about how we may no longer have lynching, but that the sexism and

racism of today were just as bad if not worse, and that to call it

"subtle" was ridiculous. Just call it racism. He also made the

point (which Hopkins had also alluded to in one of her slides)

that we've barely started to look at race. He noticed that most of

the women in the audience were white, and said there needed to be

some attention on the issues for women in color.

* Professor Jonathan King from MIT (I only knew who he was because

he said his name) spoke well about his experiences interviewing

labs where the PI is trying to renew a training grant. He said in

every institution where the grad students were somehow organized,

things worked better.

* Professor Sherley -- yes, the hunger strike one who was denied

tenure -- also was in the audience and spoke. Every time I think

of it I start to cry again. This is a man who fought incredibly

hard to have his voice heard, who twice went through the

administration to try and get his tenure review reconsidered, and

who want on a hunger strike for weeks in order to get tenure, and

in the end had to end his strike. And yet Sherley had a message

for hope. He said that if we kept trying, if we gather people

together, that things will change. He wanted us to be hopeful (in

the face of his becoming a martyr before a racist institution, no

less). I can't describe the kind, generous expression on his face,

and how in that moment I didn't feel as though any of us in the

room deserved it.

All of this is simply to say, there is too much to say! And, frankly,

the reason that Barres and Hopkins had so little useful advice is not

only because they are tenured and have lost sight of the stronger

discrimination that occurs to younger scientists, but because they

lack the framework (or maybe foresight) to understand the necessity of

a labor union for grad students, post-docs, faculty, and scientists

everywhere. Without a way for folks low on the totem pole to speak up

for themselves (without repercussions or being singled out), there is

no way to end oppression. You can't just leave a lab every time you

experience discrimination or sexism, because you'd be leaving your new

lab as soon as you moved in (not to mention that sometimes you're in a

small enough field that moving at all is impossible).

So, organize, organize, organize! Stop worrying about how your salary

might go down if humanities students salaries go up (it won't happen),

stop worrying about dues (they're 1% of salary), stop worrying the

teamsters are going to end up on your committee (yes, I've heard that

one before). If you are tired of the fact that you have to work twice

as hard to get half as far as a man in this profession, you need to