Shocking news: Once again, Employers choose men over women

A recent study shows that science faculty members have a subtle gender bias towards male students.

by Kiana Givpoor

ladyscience

More and more women are receiving their PhD’s, and completing high levels of education in science that should qualify them for jobs in the scientific field, but there is still a huge gender gap in the field of science. What a coincidence! Unfortunately this is not a coincidence; Students at Yale University recently conducted a study that identified the processes contributing to the bias against female job applicants in the scientific field. Faculty members were given students’ applications for a lab manager position, but each application was randomly assigned a male or a female name, making gender the only difference between each candidate. The faculty members rated each student on their competence, hireability, and stated the salary offerings and mentoring opportunities that would be offered to each student. Surprise, surprise, results showed that female students were considered less competent, less hireable than the identical male student. Salary offerings were lower, and less mentoring opportunities were given to the female applicant even though her application was identical to her male counterpart. When comparing men and women, women are always considered to be less than men: women are not as fast, not as strong, and not as smart. People have even gone far enough to say that women should just stay home, cook, clean, and take care of the kids. Clearly this preexisting bias people have towards women, have caused the science faculty members to choose a male over a female because females are seen as less competent overall. How sad that people are so quick to forget all of the famous FEMALE scientists that have made a difference in the world such as, Caroline Herschel, Marie Curie, and Curie’s daughter, Irène Curie-Joliot. Keep in mind, these women received awards for their scientific findings at a time when their education was extremely limited, and gender stereotypes were more prevalent and limiting than they are today. Regardless of the amount of women receiving the Nobel Prize or the amount of women being showered with other awards in their field of work, the results of this study, along with many other studies, display that gender bias still exists in field of science. Another interesting result from the study was that women were considered more likeable by the faculty members, meaning women were see as friendlier, easier to like and easier be around in comparison to the male applicants. However, likeability doesn’t translate into a job opportunity, increased salary or mentoring opportunities, like it did for the male applicants; this result directly correlates with the view that women are less competent than men, and therefore making life for a female scientist difficult, and disappointing.

 

Works Cited

Graham, Mark J., et al. “Science Faculty’s Subtle Gender Biases Favor Male Students.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109.41: n. pag. Print.

Sorensen, Jen. “The Universal Laws of Ladies in Science.” Jen Sorensen: Cartoonist, Writer, Cultural Panopticon. N.p., 3 Oct. 2012. Web. 2 Dec. 2014. <http://jensorensen.com/2012/10/03/this-weeks-cartoon-the-universal-laws-of-ladies-in-science/>.

writing in the natural sciences