A piece of mail arrives addressed to "Dear sir" when you're more accurately addressed as "madam." A clueless colleague remarks upon meeting you that he couldn't tell from reading your scientific publications that you are a woman. What should you do when you're a member of a group with low representation in your professional field and you suffer a small but noticeable slight?
The examples above actually happened to a female science professor who writes in the Chronicle of Higher Education under the nom de keyboard of, well, Female Science Professor about these experiences and how she dealt with them. She advises that sometimes objecting to the slight can bring change but can also make enemies. And sometimes a response isn't necessary. A male scientist who heard Prof. Clueless's comment, for example, called him an idiot to his face before a group of colleagues.
As we noted a couple of months ago while discussing Breaking Into the Lab, a new book by Sue V. Rosser of San Francisco State University, slights of this kind--which the literature on discrimination calls micro-inequities--may mean little when considered as individual instances, but over time their effects can accumulate into genuine harm to one's career. As a "real and persistent feature of our professional lives," they demand attention, although knowing exactly what to do in each case can be tricky, Female Science Professor writes. If you have experienced such small indignities--or if you have ever inflicted them--her essay is worth reading.
The examples above actually happened to a female science professor who writes in the Chronicle of Higher Education under the nom de keyboard of, well, Female Science Professor about these experiences and how she dealt with them. She advises that sometimes objecting to the slight can bring change but can also make enemies. And sometimes a response isn't necessary. A male scientist who heard Prof. Clueless's comment, for example, called him an idiot to his face before a group of colleagues.
As we noted a couple of months ago while discussing Breaking Into the Lab, a new book by Sue V. Rosser of San Francisco State University, slights of this kind--which the literature on discrimination calls micro-inequities--may mean little when considered as individual instances, but over time their effects can accumulate into genuine harm to one's career. As a "real and persistent feature of our professional lives," they demand attention, although knowing exactly what to do in each case can be tricky, Female Science Professor writes. If you have experienced such small indignities--or if you have ever inflicted them--her essay is worth reading.
