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February 20, 2003
A: FROM MENTOR SUZANNE FRANKS
IN KS
Quayla, unfortunately, sometimes discrimination does occur.
It can be
something small and subtle - like a teacher not calling on
women students
as often as men, or not encouraging them to expand on their
answers as
much as they do with men. Or having a classmate make remarks
like
"Women don't belong in engineering" (as happened
to a woman student
I know.) Or it can be larger things - like getting cut out
of group work by
male students who don't want to work with women, or having
a teacher
grade you harder or not mentor you the way that the teacher
would
mentor a male student.
The good news is that when things like this happen, there
are policies
and procedures in place for dealing with them. Most colleges
and
universities have explicit policies prohibiting sexual and
racial harassment, and they
have specified penalties for those who are found to be guilty
of harassment.
There are usually places on campus you can go to get advice
and help
in dealing with it if you find that you are being harassed:
Affirmative
Action offices, Women's Centers, Women in Engineering or Women
in Science Programs, and so on.
What's harder to deal with is the unspoken attitude that some
people have
that women just aren't as good at science or engineering as
men are.
So these people are always judging women a little harder,
or expecting
less of women - you can't put your finger on something specific
they
do or say, and many times they aren't even conscious of having
these
different expectations for women. But that is something that
women face
in almost any field they want to go into, except for those
few careers
that are seen as "traditionally female".
I have experienced discrimination, but it has not kept me
from having a
very satisfying and exciting and rewarding career in science
and
engineering. I have had good friends and mentors who helped
me deal with it when it
occurred, and encouraged me not to give up. In the end, what
is important
is that you do what you want to do and pursue your interests.
You can
always find someone willing to tell you why it won't work
or why you won't succeed.
Don't listen to those voices. Listen to the voices of those
who encourage
you, who honor your ambitions, who take pride in your achievements.
Don't give
negative voices the time of day. What do they know about who
you can
be?!?!?
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A: FROM MENTOR JUDY MOORE
IN NM
Many SET fields have long been occupied only by men and so
the introduction
of women is somewhat rocky. When I was in college in math
and physics
classes (30 years ago now) there were very few women. Since
I was usually
making the top grade in any class, it was hard to be not considered
seriously. But women who were in the middle of the pack were
often not
considered as serious students who would make big contributions.
In the
workplace, there can be a problem just because the working
styles of men and
women are usually different and when you are in the minority
your style
differences stand out. The biggest statistical issue that
I am aware of is
salary - do men and women in SET fields doing similar work
and making
similar contributions make the same salaries. In many areas,
the answer is
no - women make less.
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