Re: Female scientists 'undervalued'

From: EjP (noname_at_hackers.are.bad)
Date: 02/21/05 

Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 09:52:00 -0600

George wrote:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/norfolk/4276067.stm
>
> Women are more successful than men in gaining their first academic post but feel
> winning promotion proves more difficult, a new study says.
> A University of East Anglia study shows men still occupy the lion's share of key
> positions in UK academic science.
>
> Women scientists feel undervalued by colleagues and discouraged from making
> progress in their careers.
>
> The study was presented to the American Association for the Advancement of
> Science in Washington DC on Friday.
>
> More than 6,500 scientists from 40 UK universities and a range of publicly
> funded research institutes responded to online surveys about their career
> experiences and perceptions.
>
> Replies revealed that a higher proportion of men than women took the top jobs.
>
> Many scientists felt that active encouragement to go for a post or take
> responsibility was a major factor in seeking promotion but more than 50% of
> women said they did not receive this backing.
>
> Significantly lower percentages of women than men feel their departments value
> their contributions.
>
> Collaborative research
>
> Women are more successful at achieving a post on their first application, yet
> 44% of them feel disadvantaged in terms of promotion.
>
> Only 14% of men believe women are disadvantaged in terms of promotion. Fewer
> women are actively involved in research and speaking at conferences and this is
> seen as a barrier to promotion.
>
> Jan Anderson, from the University of East Anglia, said: "We know encouragement
> breeds success. But we have to ask if women do not notice the tap on the
> shoulder or whether for them the encouragement is indeed absent.
>
> "Results will enable universities and policy makers to focus on areas of change
> that will improve the recruitment, retention and advancement of women
> scientists."
>
> The research is in collaboration with the Athena Project which was set up in
> 1999.
>
>
I thought it was odd that the article focused on how women *feel* about
their chances of being promoted rather than giving statistics about
whether they actually *get* promoted.

Speaking as a male who's worked in science for 25 years, I have no idea
where this "men are given encouragement to seek promotion" garbage is.
I've been hearing how lousy the job market is and how slim everyone's
chances are since I was in grad. school.

Science is not about warm fuzzies.

-E

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