I am appalled to hear that this sort of thing is still going on. It was common when I was in school in the 60s but that was 40 years ago! Who are these dinosaurs?? Have they been living in Afghanistan all these years?
1880's: "There's lots of good fish in the sea" W.S. Gilbert 1990's: Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss, and pollution. 2000's: Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution reduction MAY help restore populations. \ \ \ \ \ - - _ - \ \ \ \ ----\ - _ - \ - - ( O \ _ - -_ __ / - - / -/// _ ______ ___/ /// / Judith S. Weis, Professor Department of Biological Sciences Rutgers University, Newark NJ 07102 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: 973 353-5387 FAX 973 353-5518 http://newarkbiosci.rutgers.edu/faculty/weis.html On Sun, 5 Nov 2006, Anita Lahey wrote: > As a 42 year old female graduate research assistant in fisheries = > ecology, > only Audrey Mayer and Margie Mayfield=92s comments spoke to my = > experience in a > male-dominated research field. Put simply: gender bias exists. To write = > off > gender bias as a maternity/paternity-leave question is to muddy the = > waters. > I have experienced bias in fisheries ecology as a female, but very = > little > bias due to the possibility that I might someday consider having a = > child. > > =20 > > Bill Silvert said he suspects women don=92t enter oceanography because = > the > =93equipment is heavy and cumbersome=94. That, Bill, is an example of = > gender > bias and one that women in field biology run into quite often. Granted > fisheries ecology is a bit unusual in that, like firefighting (and > apparently oceanography), it is considered a =93man=92s world=94. Are = > women really > strong enough to pull people out of burning buildings? Are women really > capable of carrying backpack electrofishers? > > =20 > > Let me relate to you my own experience. At my undergraduate western land > grant research university, my undergraduate advisor, an =93old-school=94 > professor, actively discouraged the undergraduate women in my fisheries > cohort from applying to graduate school. I had stellar grades and = > GRE=92s and > when I applied to grad school well-known ecologists were eager to take = > me > on, only to, suddenly in the application process, drop me like a hot = > potato. > It took me a year to figure out something funny was going on. A visiting > potential advisor, after breakfasting with my undergraduate advisor, = > told me > he thought I would =93really do better at a larger university=94 than = > his own. I > realized something was awry, and, confronting my undergraduate advisor, > discovered that, behind my back, he had been secretly blackballing me = > from > graduate school. He told potential advisors (and me) =93she does not = > have what > it takes to make it through graduate school, she is unreliable and > irresponsible, she has alienated the entire fisheries and wildlife > department and I wouldn=92t let her into my lab=94. I requested that he = > =93cease > and desist=94 and he did. But, he also sent two other young women in my = > cohort > away in tears saying =93we don=92t accept people like you into graduate = > school=94 > and there were only four women total in fisheries, so he got to 3 out of = > 4 > of us. Maybe he was reacting to my singularly crappy unreliable > irresponsible personality, and maybe Zefra=92s =93C=94 in history really = > did > disqualify her from grad school, but then why did he choose to = > discourage > three out of the four women in my cohort from grad school but no men = > that I > know of? The pictures of his research group consist of seven or so men, = > and > no women. Is this because women lack the Y-chromosome necessary to deal = > with > the heavy and cumbersome equipment of fisheries ecology? I realize now, = > that > not only did the advisor delay my entrance to grad school by a year = > (costing > me financially), but I lost undergraduate research opportunities. Had I = > had > a supportive undergraduate advisor, he/she would have directed me = > towards > undergraduate research and the NSF graduate research fellowship that I = > was > well-qualified for. This was 2002. The guys label him as = > =93old-school=94. His > attitude was limited to a particular department. At the same school, = > other > departments actively supported women in research. My goal is not to = > indict a > particular individual, but simply to give a real-life example of = > gender-bias > in action. > > =20 > > Fisheries biology is still an =93ole boys club=94. In three fisheries > departments that I know of (including both my undergraduate and graduate > departments), I have seen men get slipped in =93through the back door=94 = > into > graduate fisheries positions, meaning lacking the necessary credentials = > (GRE > scores, field experience, research experience) required to enter = > graduate > school. Their only credentials were charming, young, male and =93like to > fish=94. One of my own technicians got accepted into MSU =93through the = > back > door=94 and more power to him, but heck, if I could have =93slipped = > through a > back door=94, I could have saved four years of expenses. In my interview > process, again and again I was told my application was weak because I = > lacked > undergraduate research experience. These double standards make me angry. = > A > woman is discouraged from grad school because of a =93C=94 in history or = > lack of > research experience while a man doesn=92t have to take the GRE=92s or = > have any > field experience? > > =20 > > Our department recently hired for a wildlife biologist and a fisheries > biologist position. We most likely bemoaned the lack of qualified female > fisheries applicants (about 1 out of 30 was female), but clearly the = > weeding > out of women is happening before the postdoc level. It=92s occuring at = > the > undergraduate level.=20 > > =20 > > If women say they are being discriminated against, then most likely they > are. To deny that there is gender bias, even in the hallowed halls of > biology or ecology, is simply na=EFve. > > =20 > > Anita Lahey > > Graduate Research Assistant > > Virginia Tech Department of Fisheries and Wildlife > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > http://filebox.vt.edu/users/alahey/ > > =20 > > =20 > > =20 > > =20 >