Academic Women Scientists. And Dual Career Couples

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• Academic Skills WorkshopAcademic Women
  Scientists
• And Dual Career CouplesBalancing career and
  family
• Deborah C. Rubin, M.D.
• Washington University School of Medicine

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Women in Science

• Women in math, engineering and science Drawing
  on our country's entire talent pool
• February 12, 2005
• The following opinion piece by the presidents of
  MIT, Princeton and Stanford appeared in the
  Boston Globe on February 12, 2005.
• BY JOHN HENNESSY, SUSAN HOCKFIELD AND SHIRLEY
  TILGHMAN
• Harvard President Lawrence Summers' recent
  comments about possible causes of the
  under-representation of women in science and
  engineering have generated extensive debate and
  discussion-much of which has had the untoward
  effect of shifting the focus of the debate to
  history rather than to the future.

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Women in Science

• The question we must ask as a society is not "can
  women excel in math, science and
  engineering?"--Marie Curie exploded that myth a
  century ago--but "how can we encourage more women
  with exceptional abilities to pursue careers in
  these fields?" Extensive research on the
  abilities and representation of males and females
  in science and mathematics has identified the
  need to address important cultural and societal
  factors. Speculation that "innate differences"
  may be a significant cause of under-representation
  by women in science and engineering may
  rejuvenate old myths and reinforce negative
  stereotypes and biases.

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Women in Science

• Can Harvard Ever Play a Positive Role for Women
  in Higher Education?
• Myra H. Strober PhD '69

Some 40 years ago, when I was applying to
graduate schools for a Ph.D. in economics, I had
an interview with a prominent Harvard University
professor. Not more than two minutes into the
interview, he asked me, "Are you normal?" "What
do you mean?" I asked, puzzled. "Well, do you
want to get married and have a child?" "I'm
already married." "Well then, why would you want
a Ph.D.?" I don't remember much of what he said
after that. I left feeling deflated and
distressed. Although I applied to Harvard anyway,
I was not surprised when a curt rejection letter
appeared some months later. Happily, the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology had a quite
different reaction to my application. It not only
accepted me, but also provided me with a full
fellowship
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Women in Science

• In my time as a student at MIT, I felt the lack
  of female companionship and advice, but never any
  discrimination, either from professors or from
  fellow students. And when it came time to find a
  faculty position, I got the same careful career
  counseling as all the other students. I've gone
  on to have both a family and a productive and
  satisfying academic career at Stanford
  University.

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Women in Science

• When I read that, at a recent conference on women
  and science, the current president of Harvard,
  Lawrence H. Summers, said that perhaps the dearth
  of women in science careers is explained by
  gender differences in math ability as well as by
  women's unwillingness to combine family with a
  demanding academic career, I thought back to his
  former colleague in the economics department
  whose comments had had such a chilling effect on
  me. How, I wondered, do female students at
  Harvard feel knowing that the leader of their
  institution sees them as lesser? And does Harvard
  still think that it is "abnormal" for women to
  want families and high-powered careers?

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Women in Science

• But the remarks of my interviewer and those of
  Mr. Summers differ significantly -- and not just
  because one spoke in private as an individual
  professor and the other in public, representing
  his institution. My interviewer 40 years ago was
  prejudiced, but not ill informed. His comments to
  me were made well before the burst of
  psychological and sociological studies that show
  that gender differences in performance on
  mathematics tests and women's achievements in
  highly male environments are greatly influenced
  by social factors, and that discrimination has
  ill effects on both aspirations and performance.
  Mr. Summers could and should have been better
  informed than my bygone interrogator.

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Women in Science

• In this day and age, it should be impossible for
  a leader of one of the most prestigious
  institutions of higher learning to achieve that
  position without a clear understanding of the
  importance of social influences on women's
  aspirations and achievements. The Harvard
  community needs to ask itself some hard questions
  about its presidential-selection process. How did
  someone so ignorant of key findings concerning
  women in higher education become president? Was
  the selection process flawed, resulting in a
  failure to examine candidates' views about women?
  Were all candidates asked about their
  understanding of the reasons for the dearth of
  female faculty members, particularly in the hard
  sciences, and about the strategies they would use
  to increase their numbers? Were all of them asked
  to meet and talk seriously with faculty women,
  particularly in the sciences?

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Women in Science

• In thinking of Mr. Summers's remarks, I find it
  impossible not to contrast him with Charles M.
  Vest, MIT's most recent past president. In 1999,
  when faculty members at MIT sent a report to Mr.
  Vest showing how that university seriously
  disadvantaged its tenured female professors, he
  publicly admitted that MIT discriminated against
  women (yes, he actually used the D word), and
  promised to work hard to level the playing field.
  He didn't say that women couldn't hack the
  research-university schedule, or that they scored
  lower on math tests. Instead, he called a meeting
  of presidents of eight other elite universities,
  as well as a few senior women from those
  institutions, to examine how each institution
  might set in motion a process to increase the
  number of senior women in science on their
  faculties and ensure their fair treatment. I was
  at that meeting, and Mr. Vest's leadership, both
  practical and symbolic, was obvious throughout.

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Women in Science

• Not only did Mr. Vest put MIT at the forefront of
  the fight to increase the number of female
  faculty members in science and engineering and to
  ensure their fair treatment, but MIT's board of
  trustees also chose a female scientist, Susan
  Hockfield, to succeed Mr. Vest as the
  university's president.
• Harvard and MIT are role models in higher
  education. In the same way that MIT has been a
  positive role model for women in science and
  engineering nationally, and indeed
  internationally, it is possible that Mr.
  Summers's remarks will have a negative effect.
  That is why his statement has created such a stir
  among female faculty members and administrators
  all over the world.

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Women in Science

• Mr. Summers reportedly was asked to be
  "provocative" at the conference. Will other
  college presidents seek to be equally
  "provocative," putting out their own poisonous
  sexism into the atmosphere? Will Mr. Summers's
  remarks lend credence to sexist speech? Will it
  become even more difficult for women who are
  already fighting an uphill battle for recognition
  of their talents? Will these women come to think
  that their fight is too difficult, or that they
  really are unworthy? We need every talented
  person possible to seek achievement in science
  and engineering. It would be sad, indeed, if Mr.
  Summers's remarks served to dissuade and
  discourage women or gave succor to those who wish
  to ensure their failure.

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Faculty Composition at WUMS(2003)

• Faculty composed of 27 women (for at least a
  decade, proportion of WUMS grads who are women is
  50)
• 74 of women faculty rank at or below assistant
  prof, vs. 48 of men
• Ten percent of full professors are women,
  representing 8 of women faculty members compared
  to 29 of men.

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Faculty Composition of WUMS2003- Investigator
track
Female
Male
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Faculty Composition of WUMS2003- Clinician track
Female
Male
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Faculty Composition of WUMS2003- Research track
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What are the obstacles for women scientists and
dual career couples?

• Balancing family and career
• Maximal productivity required during
  child-raising years
• Lack of mentorship
• Persistent (albeit less obvious) gender
  discrimination

Academic Medicine 200479319
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What are the obstacles for academic women
scientists?

• Difficulties in combining career with
  childbearing and family life
• Lack of compelling role models
• Women receive little encouragement
• Perception by women that they will have to be
  better than their male counterparts to be
  considered equal.

NC Andrews Nature Medicine 8439-441, 2002
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MIT Self Study

• Marginalization
• Isolation resulting from small numbers of women
  faculty
• Residual effects of past inequities, particularly
  around salary and access to resources
• Greater family responsibilities

Status of Women Faculty at MIT web.mit.edu/faculty
/reports/overview.html
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MIT Self Study

• Marginalization
• Cumulative and deleterious effects on a faculty
  members productivity
• Exclusion from participation in group grants
• Exclusion from thesis committees
• Lack of influence in decision making, even when
  included on committees (important decisions are
  made outside of the committee structure)

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MIT Self Study

• Residual effects of past inequities, particularly
  around salary and access to resources
• Womens salaries started lower, were given larger
  jumps to make up for inequality, still losing
  cumulative benefits.
• Start-up packages, lab size, other resources
  significantly smaller

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Balancing Family and Career

• So whats the problem?
• So many hats to wear
• Results are stress, exhaustion and guilt
• Family children, spouse/partner, extended
  family
• Work highly demanding of time and energy
• Home running the household
• Community responsibilities
• Coping tools are required

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Balancing family and career

• The beginning
• When should we start a family? What is the best
  time

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Balancing family and career

• A SAMPLE TIMELINE
• Married after first year of medical school
• Pregnant with first child during first year of GI
  fellowship delivered in August of second year of
  fellowship.
• Pregnant with second child during fourth year of
  fellowship (in research lab)
• Tenure clock started 6 months before birth of
  second child

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Balancing family and career

• There is no best time for beginning a family
  there are pros and cons for each possibility
• During residency or grad school
• During fellowship or post-doc
• After fellowship
• It is most important to carefully consider what
  is best for you and your significant other, and
  then go ahead!

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Balancing family and career

• Child Care
• Consider carefully what is best for your life
  style and childrens ages
• Nanny vs. day care
• Use available services to help you with hiring
• Background checks, monitoring
• Word of mouth is worth a lot
• Try to get involved in the community
• Great resources and source of support
• Remember that needs change as children get older
• Socialization, driving to activities, drop off
  and pick up from school, etc

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Balancing Family and Career

• Resources
• http//pathbox.wustl.edu/awn/awntop/handbook.html
  
• Family Resource Handbook
• Table of Contents
• Chapter 1 Choosing Child Care
• Section 1 Overview Page 5 
•  Section 2 - Internet Resources Page 5   
• Section 3 - Agencies for In-Home Well and Sick
  Child Care Page 7
• For Profit Nanny Finding Agencies Page
  7        
•  In-Home Child Care Resources Provided by Area
  College Students Page 8  
•  Section 4- Childcare at Washington University
  Page 9 
•   Section 5- Questions to Ask Child Care
  Centers     Page 10

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Balancing Family and CareerResources

• Chapter 2 Resources for expectant and new
  parents
• Chapter 3 Resources for older children
• Chapter 4 Summer camps and activities for
  children
• Chapter 5 Family fun in St. Louis
• Chapter 9 Resources for elderly care
• Chapter 10 Resources for the Washington U
  Community

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How can we deal with the obstacles?

• Personal
• Dont be afraid to seek help
• Identify a mentor with experience in this arena
• Hone your organizational skills
• Simplify your daily life and routines
• Use available resources
• At university
• Community
• National

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How can we deal with the obstacles?

• Personal
• Dont be afraid to seek help
• With children
• With housework
• Share with spouse/significant other
• Extended family

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• Personal
• Identify a mentor with experience in this arena
• Can be separate from your primary academic mentor
  the more the merrier
• Seek help from national organizations
• American Gastroenterological Association,
  American Physiological Society have mentorship
  programs

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• Personal
• Hone your organizational skills
• Keep schedules with you at all times
• Plan ahead for major stress periods at work (e.g.
  grant and other deadlines, presentations. This is
  difficult to do but critically important
• Set up a good work space at home
• Develop a standard routine for creating and
  dealing with your to-do list

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• Personal
• Simplify your daily life and routines
• Can you live close to work? Eliminate long and
  stressful driving times
• Seek day care with flexible hours
• Get help with driving to activities
• Use health care professionals with weekend or
  evening hours if possible

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Family and Career how to balance?

• Choose the right partner (!)
• Choose your parents with care
• High energy, sense of humor, flexibility, problem
  solving ability
• Choose the nanny/day care with great care
• Compromise
• Compartmentalize

CJ Kestenbaum J Am Acad Psycho and Dyn Psych
32117, 2004
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• Compromise
• Maybe not the best time to serve on lots of
  committees
• Learn to say no
• Limit out of town travel
• Focus on what you must accomplish to succeed.
  Dont get side-tracked. Prioritize.

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• Compartmentalize
• Divide work time and home time with little
  overlap.
• Guarantee your children set times when you will
  be home they know what to expect and that their
  needs are your highest priority
• Give each child some individual time

Arvin, A. Stanford Report 2001 CJ Kestenbaum J
Am Acad Psycho and Dyn Psych 32117, 2004
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• Avoid guilt
• employed mothers today seek ways to maximize
  time with their children. Within marriages,
  fathers are spending more time with their
  children than in the past, thus increasing the
  total time children spend with a parent even as
  the mother spends more time away from home.

Bianchi SM Demography 37404, 2000
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How to address the inequities 1. Institutional

• Choose a supportive environment
• Presence of other role models
• Explore tenure track/promotion guidelines
• MIT example semesters paid leave from
  administrative and teaching duties, delay in
  tenure decision, Harvard Med School grants.
• WUMS example - Tenure track changes under
  consideration at WUMS, Gender Equity Committee
  has been formed and meets regularly, Academic
  Womens Network, Office for Faculty Affairs.

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How to address the inequities and social pressures

• View the issues broadly
• Selectively helping young women will only serve
  to reinforce traditional roles if it provides no
  incentive or opportunity for young men to be
  involved in parenting. It is not hard to find
  men who would like to take on an equal share of
  the responsibility for having and raising
  children
• NC Andrews. Nature Medicine 8 439-441

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How to address the inequities and social pressures

• Many of the most successful women
  physician-scientists owe their success, at least
  in part, to enlightened partners who have made
  their own unrecognized and unrewarded career
  sacrifices but there are few grants or tenure
  track adjustments for these men. Promotions
  committees should consider that male faculty
  members may have assumed an equal or greater
  amount of the responsibility.

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How to address the inequities 2. National
efforts

• Committees on women and gender equity in
  different specialty and research societies.
• Mentorship programs
• NIH programs on womens health research
• Academic success workshops junior and
  mid-career run by AAMC

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Summary

• A great deal of progress has been made in support
  of academic women scientists and dual-career
  couples.
• More changes will be coming in the future, so
  dont lose hope.
• Remember, you are not alone!