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Mandie,(BK)

 

What's it like being a woman scientist, do  you feel out of place with some many men as scientists?

 

 

Hello Mandie

When I first started working in solar physics I sometimes felt a little out of place both because I was a woman and because I was a bit younger than most of the people I worked with. But now I feel very comfortable with the scientists I work with. I work with a great group of scientist that are both male and female.

Dawn

Good question! I'm still thinking about it, after many years.
I think it is fine, and nobody ever treats me bad or sexist. But sometimes I think it is kind of a smart boys' club..
At my work we have only one other woman scientist, but many nice young female engineers, and secretaries and administrative personnel.
Most female solar physicists all know each other after a  few conferences: there are only so many, and most are from the US, Canada, or Europe.
One difference I have noticed is that if a woman isn't sure about something, she says `I don't know' or `I'm not sure'. Men often find a way to sound like they do know it, by talking louder and with a deeper voice.
And I grew up in an all female house (mother, sister and me) so I kind of miss the girly things. Women tend to talk more about personal things and I am pretty girly in that way. Not that men really have different feelings; they just deal differently with them.

Good luck,
Mandy

Hi Mandie,

This is a very good question.  When I got my physics degree in undergraduate college, I felt very out of place especially in the more advanced classes when I was the only woman.  I wondered - should I not be here?!?  I got very good grades and loved the classes, but it was hard to be such a minority.  And when I was even younger, in 9th grade (in 1985), I was told by an astronomer that women cannot do physics so I really should not even try.  Luckily, I was also told by many men and women teachers that I should become an astronomer if I like math and physics and many men and women told me that I could do it! 

Throughout getting my graduate degree (Ph.D.) I ran into many relatively minor issues being a women.  Mostly I feel that as a woman many people assume I am stupid until I prove that I am smart, whereas it seems that if a man says something we assume he is smart unless he proves he is stupid.  So that is hard.  And I have had colleagues tell me that they are glad to know me because otherwise they would think women can't do physics - this was said to me in 2001!! 

Like the other women who responded, when I am doing only science I am often the only woman in the room.  And I have to be careful not to make a judgement about myself and women at those times.  Mostly, I really enjoy the people I work with - both men and women.  And mostly I don't have any issues with working with primarily men.  But this could be because I shifted my job to do more education and outreach activities and less science and now I work with lots of women scientists and educators.  I feel very fortunate both in most of my interactions with male and female scientists.  For the most part, scientists care about evidence and if the evidence is that I can do science then it doesn't matter that I'm a woman.  But I think it is important to still look at this issue because it certainly is not yet an equal society, though we are getting there.

Laura