Gender bias in the lab -

The Babblery

Gender bias in the lab

00:00 / 57:51

I grew up in an unassuming town which was also the world headquarters for Dow Chemical. This was a big deal in our town. My classmates’ dads worked as scientists, managers, or in related fields such as marketing, as well as skilled and unskilled laborers at the plant. Other workers in the town, from doctors to hair stylists, also served the needs of those who worked for Dow.

You’ll notice that I mentioned “dads.” Though my own mom had met my dad when they were studying chemistry in graduate school, she had dropped out to have babies and raise children. The Dow Chemical historical site mentions five women scientists for the entire 20th century. As a child, I knew working women, but I never met or heard of a woman scientist besides Marie Curie. Scientists were men. Our science teachers were men. The kids who got chemistry sets for Christmas were boys. Though girls were generally not told they couldn’t be scientists, they certainly weren’t encouraged.

Things have changed. We now have a society which claims to offer equal opportunity to women, and in many ways, that’s true. Young women can major in anything they want. They know they can choose whether to have children (though they might have to choose their state of residence carefully if they want to exercise that right). They know that if they have children, they will be expected to go back to work (often earlier than they’d like).

But while people’s greater expectations change, the systems often lag, and people’s unspoken assumptions and biases lag along with the systems. My guests, Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht, Shanna Howard, and Sarah Claus, are passionate advocates for women in science and for equity. Listen in!

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