Women in Science

I had an interaction today I found interesting, which made me think a fair amount about the distinct lack of women in science. First of all, let me say it seems around the world women are more likely to go to college than men. Also, once they are there are even more likely to graduate. So, the lack of women in engineering and science is really quite a problem in my mind because we are missing out on a great deal of quality intellectual capital. And while I will say my field seems to be improving in this regard slightly during my generation just from my personal observations, currently science and mathematics faculty lists around the world are largely made up of men.

So, to my experience. As mentioned in my previous post, there is a coffee machine on my floor. In desperate need of some this morning, I figured I would check to see if by an off chance the room was open. As I walked up, one of the few female mathematicians in Bonn was opening the door to look at some of the layout regarding the move with an administrator, so I sneaked in behind them to grab my coffee. I was just about to press the button when I was interrupted by this professor telling me I was perfectly allowed to have coffee on the condition that I agree to clean the machine when necessary. My first reaction was a bit of confusion. If you go to the coffee machine and something needs to be emptied or replaced, the machine does not work. Now, for me, if I am at a coffee machine, I would happily give up a mug's worth of flesh for a pick me up, meaning putting in some beans, emptying some grounds or replacing the water is a small price to pay. So, it seemed obvious if you go to the machine and it is in need of maintenance, you would simply perform such a duty.

My next intuition was to wonder what would make her think I would be unwilling to clean the machine since questioning my willingness to do so is quite contrary to my understanding. It occurred to me that as a woman, she perhaps was often expected by her colleagues to clean the coffee machine and was taking preemptive measures to make sure this was not her role. Since there seem to be a large number of older male professors who have only female secretaries in the department, I imagine that it has been a hard fight in ways to gain her position since so few women seem to have them. Hence, proper respect may be something she struggles with to this day from her colleagues, though I would hope at least from the younger generations she feels no such discomfort or discrimination. However, I must acknowledge that her position as a female mathematics professor puts her in shamefully small minority and even if it is not intended, I am sure in some way she has experienced different social dynamics, expectations and interactions than I have. Still, in some sense I felt a sort of reverse gender discrimination, although this is obviously much too strong a term for what I actually felt, because my willingness to clean a machine had been called into question.

Shortly after I had this internal conversation, I thought maybe I was actually the one who was being sexist. The reason she reacted in such a way may simply be that her door is close to the coffee machine room. Hence possibly she could either be asked to help with the machine all the time by random individuals or simply smell the coffee grounds sitting in their disposal unit when they build up over time. Perhaps my first instinct to frame her sensitivity to my willingness to perform this task as a gender issue says more about what I deep down consider proper gender roles than what she does. Perhaps my initial reaction is part of why a lot of women have a hard time feeling comfortable in the scientific community made of mostly men. After all, even though none of this was ever spoken, did the fact that the thoughts occurred to me change my interactions with her on a subconscious level??

The truth of the matter I would like to believe is that these questions are rarely raised when having a scientific interaction because if you really love what you are discussing, the work speaks for itself and for me anyway all social difficulties or stereotypes vanish rather quickly in the heat of a discussion. In addition, I certainly have married a woman of great independence, always been able to form strong, lasting friendships with many intelligent and fascinating women, enjoyed discussing mathematics just as in depth with female colleagues, tried to encourage many women I have taught to stay with science and pursue it at higher levels, as well as collaborated with women, though sadly very few by comparison. So, hopefully I am not part of the problem, but to be honest, I am not sure. I know I would be incredibly proud to someday have a daughter who would pursue a career in science, meaning at the very least I hope the women interested in science in the coming generations will not have to overcome the same unnecessary obstacles they may have had to hurdle in the past and find a real community to which they can belong as equals.