women in physics

[NYMomof2]

<p>Marlgirl, I decided to be a physicist at the age of 9 (despite living in a blue-collar neighborhood with none of the adults were professionals and few of them had gone to college), majored in physics, earned a Ph.D. at HYP, and am now a researcher on the faculty of one of the above. In my view, physics is a great career for women because for the most part the field is a meritocracy, and most physicists are fair and ethical people. I haven’t looked into the reasons that there aren’t more women in physics, but I have a few ideas based on experience. First, as other posters have mentioned, many, if not most, women in physics have attended all-female high schools or colleges. Years ago, I knew a female mathematician who asked every woman mathematician, physicist, or engineer about this. Every one of the women she asked had gone to an all-female high school or college (this was in the dark ages, when there were still quite a few all-female colleges). I went to an all-girls HS. Something else that I’ve noticed is that females go into physics only if they have extraordinary ability, while males become physicists with less talent. I once read a column in Physics Today by Leon Lederman. He wrote about being asked by a male college student, who loved physics but who was a mediocre student, whether he should go to grad school and become a physicist. I was shocked that Lederman had encouraged this man; I’d assumed that only those with great aptitude had a chance of a successful career. Lederman wrote that many important discoveries had been made by physicists of average ability, because persistence and serendipity played at least as large a role as ability. </p>

<p>I read one of the Wisconsin articles linked above. What I have found is that although there are people who will discriminate against women, they are in the minority and there are plenty of others who will help anyone. I know very good women physicists who have had to leave institutions because of a hostile atmosphere, and who succeeded in other places. But I think you will find this to a greater extent in other professions - law, business, medicine.</p>

<p>Family responsibilities are a real issue - again, it is possible to thrive in some departments, but not in others where people are not supportive. </p>

<p>I don’t agree with ADad’s ideas about assertive, obstinate personalities being suitable for physics. I am a very collegial person, and I think this has been as important for my career as any abilities that I have. In general, most people I’ve known in physics are open-minded and supportive of others. I have found that the few aggressive, nasty physicists have abilities much lower than the norm. I have only met one physicist who was both highly talented and nasty, and he had an exceptionally deprived childhood.</p>

<p>Very few scientists work alone these days, and the ability to work well with others is crucial. Traditional female personality traits are actually an advantage.</p>

[nceph]

<p>Marlgirl - Have you discussed your observations and concerns with any of the female physics professors at Stanford? I am sure they would be interested in hearing your perspective and might be able to offer some reassurances or suggestions. You’re getting some interesting insights here (not from me; I managed to get through high school and college without taking any physics; not sure how that was allowed to happen!), but it might be more immediately helpful for you to hear perspective more specific to your school. Perhaps some female, senior physics majors or grad students might be helpful too.</p>

[tsdad]

<p>Susan Coppersmith, professor of physics and chair of the physics dept., here at UW, was just elected to the National Academy of Arts and Sciences. Here’s a brief write-up for her:</p>

<p>

A theoretical physicist, Coppersmith is known for her work on “disordered” materials, in which molecules are randomly arranged, rather than in perfect alignment. Coppersmith’s efforts to understand how such disorder might change the fundamental properties of different materials, has implications for a variety of industrial fields.

</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.news.wisc.edu/12504.html[/url]”>http://www.news.wisc.edu/12504.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>According to an article today in the Chronicle of Higher Education only 10% of the members of the Academy are female.</p>

[ophiolite]

<p>

Perhaps girls need more positive feedback.

</p>

<p>This is perhaps the only portion of the OPs statement with which I fully agree.</p>

<p>As a graduate student in one of the physical sciences (geology), I am currently finishing up my coursework for my MS degree by taking an Advanced Field Seminar. As part of this seminar, at the beginning of the semester we were given weekly writing assignments on different topics to polish our scientific writing skills.</p>

<p>Though I feel I’m a somewhat solid writer (or at least have been told by a number of professors in my current department and elsewhere) I got frustrated with the comments I received on my weekly writing assignments. Rather than telling me what I did wrong and what was correct, all my feedback focused on all of the negatives of my paper. I feel I learn much more when I not only know what I did wrong, but also what I did right in my assignment so I can polish my skills more effectively. </p>

<p>I then confided in a female instructor in the department whom I trust about my concerns regarding my comments. She told me that I needed to get used to it in academia since it is a male-dominated field and most males tend to give feedback in this manner. Females tend to be more kind in feedback and give the positive along with the negative. I know this is very generalized, but on a first-order I have found it to be true. It may intimidate some, however, I didn’t run into this problem until recently, in the 6th year of my studies.</p>

[stargirl]

<p>I was poking around last night and I found this [url=<a href=“Preposterous Universe”>Preposterous Universe]link[/url</a>] which I found interesting. In it it says that basically the number of females who stay in physics after undergrad is consistant with the number of males, it’s just there are fewer females who start on the track in the first place. Very interesting.</p>

[poetsheart]

<p>My D is a sophmore physics major at Bryn Mawr. It was in high school that she first encountered a love of the subject, studying AP Physics at The Governor’s School. She found the subject challenging and exhilarating, which was taught in a coed environment dominated by the presence of boys. But she much prefers studying physics in her current setting. One thing she used to complain about in the context of studying physics in The Governor’s school was the way in which the boys dominated the entire classroom culture. When discussing this thread last night, she told me that the boys at G-school were ridiculously competitive. The atmosphere was literally charged with a sort of cut-throat need to “win”. There was often an appalling lack of cooperation, and the boys sometimes actually undermined one another and openly condescended to the girls in the class. They dominated classroom discourse, and smirked when others seemed to be struggling.</p>

<p>At Bryn Mawr, D says the Physics Department is small and nurturing. There is none of the competition which she experienced at the Governor’s School—quite the opposite, as a matter of fact. She reports that everyone is very cooperative, and that the upperclasswomen are happy to lend moral support and encouragement. the cirriculum is challenging and there is little grade inflation, so there are times when the stress is pretty high. The competition is all within one’s ownself, within one’s own desire to do well and master the subject matter. She agreed with Marlgirl, that a poor test score obtained under circumstances in which the majority scored equally badly offers little sense of consolation. I know that my D is distressed by the idea that she has not thoroughly learned an idea or concept being studied in the classroom. </p>

<p>The fact that the majority of female Physicists were educated in single-sex environments says something significant, I think. I suspect that many aspects of the co-ed high school environment serve to discourage girls from delving into the hard sciences. The tacit expectation that physics and mathmatics is the purview of “boys” holds amazing sway in many co-ed schools. In all-girls schools, however, with males factored out of the equation, girls are afforded the room to prove that they are as capable as the next person.</p>