NY Times on Women in Science

[astra_nomer]

This is a very interesting article, but I really should be working on finishing up this paper so just a few brief comments. Some quotes:

on disparities on research support:

For example, as the National Academy of Sciences noted in its report, women who are scientists publish somewhat less over all than their male colleagues — but if surveys control for the amount of support researchers receive, women publish as often as men, the report said.

on letters of recommendation:

Dr. Steitz cited a study of letters of recommendation written for men and women seeking academic appointments. Though all the applicants were successful, she said, and though the letters were written by men and women, the study found that the applicant’s personal life was mentioned six times more often if the letter was about a woman.

Also, Dr. Steitz said, “For women, the things that were talked about more frequently were how well they were trained, what good teachers they were and how well their applications were put together.” When the subject of the letter was male, she said, the big topics were research skills and success in the lab.

on handling personal questions during interviews:

Dr. Niemeier, who acquired her own two-body problem recently when she began a relationship with a woman who has two children, suggested responding to questions about children with, “Could you tell me how that factors into your evaluation?” or, “Right now, I am looking for the best job I can get.”

and interesting advice on choosing a position:

Dr. Niemeier also advised the group to watch for signs that a university might not be ready to embrace successful female scientists. When she was job-hunting, she said, she was advised, “if you are the first woman in the department, walk away. You can have other jobs.”

A lot of this stuff resonantes with me. It's especially interesting to me to read about the job-hunting advice since that's foremost on my mind at the moment. Enough. Go read the article yourself.