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THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR CELL BIOLOGY

CHAPTER 10 • WOMEN & SCIENCE CAREERS 97

socialization of white males is well served,

but the different expectations and require-

ments of women are often misunderstood,

ignored or belittled. These include issues of

self-confidence; for example, admitting dif-

ficulty in a subject may be interpreted as a

weakness rather than an interest in sharing

information in the process of learning. In

one study,^2 many undergraduate women

did not think that they were doing as well or

were as well qualified as others in the class-

es, even in cases where the grades received

said just the opposite! Also, organized help

for academic work may be viewed by some

faculty as remedial rather than as an impor-

tant means for students to more thoroughly

integrate information. Many of the expecta-

tions and requirements may also be shared

by men, although the culture of science and

engineering has been more focused on a

make-it-or-break-it, win-lose dichotomy.

Learning as a competition instead of as an

end in itself can often get in the way of suc-

cess in the classroom, and having to fight

against other students for a grade can be

very discouraging when understanding is

the overall goal.

Even given different perceptions among

men and women, the top five reasons given

by both men and women for switching out of

science and engineering majors are the

same.^2 Thus, both men and women who

switched majors felt that their original reason

for choosing the major proved inappropriate,

that there was poor teaching by the faculty,

that there was inadequate advising or help

with academic problems, that other majors

offered a better education or more interest,

and that they were “turned off science.” Men

and women defined “good teaching” and

“good academic performance” differently,

however. For women, good teaching includ-

ed being able to establish a personal relation-

ship with a faculty member; the faculty mem-

ber needed to be interested in the student as

well as the course material. For men, good

teaching focused on presentation of material.

For women, “good academic performance”

based on tests and scores was not sufficient to

doing well. They were doing well if they felt

more integrated into the discipline by estab-

lishing the relationship with the professor(s).

Networking and mentoring with the faculty

are valuable routes to learning about a pro-

fession and about others who are successful

in that profession.

In contrast, perpetuating the idea that sci-

ence is “hard” and therefore only available to

an “elite” with the inherent ability to deal

with the material provides permission for

faculty to continue to “weed out” rather than

educate students with a genuine interest and

aptitude for biology, and its predecessor

courses, math, chemistry and physics. On

this particular point, switchers and non-

switchers were found to be of similar apti-

tude and ability, whether men or women.^2

Women are more likely to internalize criti-

cism and negative feedback as indicators that

The socialization of white males

is well served, but the different

expectations and requirements of

women are often misunderstood,

ignored or belittled.

Learning as a competition

instead of as an end in itself can

often get in the way of success

in the classroom.