CHAPTER 10 • WOMEN & SCIENCE CAREERS 99education, science education, government,
and the myriad of other professions, perhaps
the word “alternative” will be dropped.
Yet, independent research careers in aca-
demia, research institutions, or industry in
which one develops approaches to decipher
the workings of biological processes certain-
ly are considered quite prestigious and
desirable. Many women have this career as
an aspiration upon entering graduate
school. What happens to them once they
have taken the first step to an independent
research career?Perhaps these research positions are less
compatible with a variety of personal and
family concerns. Very few women have a
partner whose career revolves around coordi-
nating house and home and family in order
to allow her to pursue her professional career.
With more two-career couples in research
careers, there are many more examples of
successful sharing of parenting and home
responsibilities; yet, again and again, based
on survey after survey, the larger share is
assumed by the woman. This disproportion
may be fully appropriate for individual rela-
tionships, but the issue is one of balancing
career and personal issues to ensure that the
pleasure of “doing science” remains fully
worth the effort to do it.
Another problem women often encounter
is how their behavior is perceived and accept-
ed. Successful women very often have won-
derful aggressive and persistent behaviors, asdo their male colleagues, that allow them to
follow their curiosity into scientific questions.
These behaviors on their part are sometimes
viewed as negative by colleagues unaccus-
tomed to women savoring fully the gusto of
scientific discovery. On the other hand, a very
feminine woman scientist (redundancy
noted) might not be taken seriously regard-
less of the creativity and productivity of her
research because her appearance and behav-
ior are beyond the experience of the other
“serious” scientists in her department. An
increasing number of women faculty and
researchers can contribute to eliminating the
interpretation of these behaviors as unusual.
Certainly there are many unusual behaviors
observed among men scientists, but they are
“diluted” by the numbers of men represented
in biology departments. The presence of more
women in the profession and their speaking
at meetings can condition and teach men col-
leagues about inaccurate stereotypes and pre-
conceived notions that interfere with what
might be their legitimate efforts to welcome
women into the academy.
Finally, a reason consistently mentioned by
many women who choose not to pursue or
continue a career in the biological sciences is
the competitive environment. However, it is
not competition per sethat sours the profes-
sional experience, as many women enjoy
competition and the rewards and personal
satisfaction that come from “winning.” The
crux for the sciences is the disconnect
between a reward system in an intellectual
endeavor that relies on “beating one’s com-
petition to the finish line” rather than work-
ing with others to try to derive the answers to
biological questions in a rapid, efficient, and
collaborative fashion that highlights the joy
of learning about life’s mysteries. The notion
of winners and losers in scientific research is
limited since scientific discoveries are based
on years of prior work by many others.THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR CELL BIOLOGY
Very few women have a partner
whose career revolves around
coordinating house and home
and family in order to allow her
to pursue her professional career.