> From: Linnea Ista <lkista at unm.edu>
> Think this is part of the remaining bastion of discrimination: It is
> assumed that the AVERAGE white male is competent, while a woman or person
> of color must be excellent to even deserve a crack at the same position.
Well put. I have noticed that when it comes to hiring, some
senior faculty will be very impressed with the same few female
superstars but will ignore the vast majority of other women who
are just as competent as most of the men being considered. It is
very annoying, but allows them to say that they considered a woman,
but gee, 20 other institutions wanted to hire her too, so they couldn't
get her. Part of the problem also is that women lack the talent
(if you can call it that) for self-promotion that allows the average
guy to stand out.
> The assumption is that a white male deserves the job (I often hear
> references to "our" jobs) and that anyone else must be more than competent
> to be taken seriously. And I think to a certain extent the rest of us
> internalize this a bit, thinking WE don't deserve to be taken seriously
> unless we are excellent.
Absolutely. I am sure this goes a long way to explaining the cracked
pipeline from postdoc to faculty. And the attitude about "our" jobs
is deeply ingrained even in young men, who persist in the totally
misguided notion that being a woman will make job-hunting easier.
Part of the problem is that women are so few and have such high visibility
as a result that any failing stands out, whereas who notices the
guy who is having difficulty, since he is one among so many? He gets
to be the exception. The women are made the rule.
--
-susan
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S L Forsburg, PhD forsburg at salk.edu
Molecular Biology and Virology Lab
The Salk Institute, La Jolla CA
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Women in Biology Internet Launch Page
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