Barriers to Women in Science

Henry Etzkowitz (etz@cs.columbia.edu), Sociology Board of Study, SUNY Purchase and Computer Science Department, Columbia University
Carol Kemelgor, Sociology Board of Study, SUNY Purchase
Michael Neuschatz, American Institute of Physics
Brian Uzzi, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

Kinds of barriers

Threshold effects (early or pre carrer barriers)
Glass ceiling effects (late career barriers)
Implicit bias via academic practices (preparation for career -- ie. graduate study)

Socialization Barriers

self confidence
early choldhood gender roles
"graduate school, behavior is expected to be independent, strategic and void of interpersonal support"
Marriage, pregnancy and child raising
Job search and the 2 body problem
Tenure anxiety

Academic Advising

Negative interaction factors when advisor and advise are of different gender
Reverse discrimination worries
"Women report that the best advisers are encouraging, give you concrete directions and show them the ropes"
Competition with male peers.

Carrer Choice

Instrumentals and Balancers

Research has identified Two roles
1. women who follow the male model and expect other women to do so, too;
  (aggressive, competitive stance and an unconditional devotion to work, at least until tenure) and
2. those who attempt to delineate an alternative model, allowing for a balance between work and private spheres.
(1) Instrumentals and (2) Balancers
"Most importantly, the role model women wanted was the woman who could concretely explain the necessary strategies and steps to be taken to succeed in graduate school. This conclusion derives from the reality that:
1. rules are made by men,
2. young men are socialized to those rules and further socialized in graduate school. They have learned the strategies,
3. most women have not been socialized to be autonomous, and therefore they have ifficulty figuring out the rules; and
4. most male advisors do not teach women the strategies necessary to succeed.

Policy Implications

acceptance of a female model of doing science in a collegial workplace accompanied by time for a private sphere of life apart from science;
synchronizing the biological and tenure clocks by allowing a longer time span before tenure;
rescinding exogamy requirements for career advancement thereby reducing the negative effects of limits on geographical mobility;
provision of a signficant number of relevant role models so that younger women can envision a future in science.

Other resources