WIMSy

Women are clearly underrepresented in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) disciplines.  Is the explanation socialization and discrimination or are women and men hard-wired to be different?  Do women have lower aptitude for science (as Larry Summers, the President of Harvard, famously posited just before he stepped down) and / or are they naturally less interested in the sciences?  Or are they just discouraged from pursuing science and when they do from pursuing leadership?  Cordelia Fine argues persuasively in Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference that it’s not a matter of hard-wiring, it’s largely a matter of socialization and (not necessarily conscious) bias.  Gender stereotypes are pervasive and have impact from birth (or even before) onward—and that is why gender differences in science aptitude and interest come to seem innate.

As a senior in high school, I was the one girl amongst 11 students in Linear Algebra, and I gloried in it.  I did try to get other girls to join the class, but absent that I loved the powerful feeling of being special.  Clearly, this makes me different—‘stereotype threat’ is a major reason women opt out of the STEM disciplines.  Why did the message “you don’t belong here” not penetrate?  Is this a common experience among women in academic medicine?  Or was I lucky because that was one more barrier I just didn’t have to overcome?

Stereotype threat is the stress and distraction caused by expectations of reduced aptitude based on gender, ethnicity, or any characteristic.  Just being the lone woman (or one of a few) in a room can trigger stereotype stress.  In Linear Algebra class, I might have been expected to do worse than my classmates as a result of stereotype stress (don’t worry, I got an A).  A number of studies have demonstrated that inducing stereotype threat (which can be as simple as checking a box indicating female gender) reduces scores on standardized math tests and removing it (for example, by providing the information that women would be expected to do as well as men on this particular test) increases them.  According to Fine: “…negatively stereotyped participants (that is, females doing math and non-Asian minority students), matched on real world academic tests like the SAT, performed worse than non-stereotyped groups under stereotype threat.  But importantly, when stereotype threat was removed, the stereotyped groups actually outperformed nonstereotyped peers who, from real-world tests, one would think had the same ability.” (page 31)

Another effect of stereotype stress is its impact on the choices that women make related to areas of study and career path. Stanford researchers showed two videos for a conference to advanced STEM majors: in one, about half the actors were women, in the other the gender ratio of 1:3 reflected the actual ratio of graduates.  Women who saw the gender balanced video were equally interested as men in attending the conference. Women who viewed the gender imbalanced video demonstrated increased arousal / physiological vigilance and were significantly less likely to feel they belonged at the conference (page 42).  It’s not just being a minority in the room that affects choices.  Women who watched ads that portray women in stereotyped behaviors (baking brownies, worried about their appearance) avoided math questions on a GRE-like exam and expressed a reduced preference for occupations that require mathematical skills.

How do you think stereotype stress affected you in your education and training?  Did you have to overcome expectations to pursue a career in medicine / science?  How often are you in situations where women are less than a quarter of those present?  Have you ever made a career choice because you felt you “didn’t belong” by virtue of being female?

Join the WIMS Book Discussion, Wednesday, January 26, 2011 in HSEB 5100B.  We’ll discuss these questions, as well as other topics of interest raised by Cordelia Fine’s book.

Listen to an interview with Cordelia Fine on NPR’s On Point: http://www.onpointradio.org/2011/01/gender-brain-new

What is WIMS?  The Group on Women in Medicine and Science (GWIMS) is a formal professional development group of the Association of American Medical Colleges, which ‘serves and leads the academic medicine community to improve the health of all.’  Why do we need GWIMS? Of the 125,070 medical school faculty in 2009, 65% were men and 35% were women—and only 18% of full professors were women.

The mission of GWIMS is to advance the full and successful participation of women in all roles within academic medicine. The GWIMS serves as a national forum to advance women’s success in medicine and science by addressing: gender equity, recruitment and retention, awards and recognition, and career advancement.

WIMS at the University of Utah School of Medicine belongs to GWIMS.  Our local goals include:

• to provide medical students, graduate students, residents, fellows, and junior faculty the tools required to pursue a successful career in medicine / science.
• to provide a venue for women at the SOM to network, socialize, and find support.

WIMS presents a monthly series, “Tools for Success,” that has included sessions on negotiation, decision-making, parenthood, finances of academic medical centers, giving feedback, and effective communication.  We e-publish a regular newsletter that highlights upcoming events of interest to our membership, accomplishments by women at the SOM, and recent publications and news stories pertinent to women in science.  Our website (www. medicine.utah.edu/wim) provides podcasts and / or slides for most presentations, as well as providing links to valuable resources.  Our library has a wide array of books on topics pertinent to faculty development and issues particular to women. The “Celebration of Women in Medicine and Science” brings a keynote speaker to campus each fall to discuss issues of importance to creating and sustaining a satisfying career in medicine and science.  WIMS works with other groups on campus, including the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW), American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA), the Association of Future Female Physicians (AFFP), the Utah Medical Association Women’s Physician Section (WPS), and the Office of Inclusion and Outreach to leverage our programming.  Finally, with AMWA and WPS, WIMS hosts social gatherings 2-3 times a year.

At its core, WIMS exists to promote progress on campus.  What kinds of programs would you like to see?  What topics would you like us to address?  Do you know a great speaker we should invite?  Let us know how we’re doing and what we should be doing!