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theprof00 on 31 December 2015
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mornelithe said:
theprof00 said:

Ok so I read the studies but I'm not sure they support entirely your insistence that I'm wrong. The studies showed that women are preferred among men in teaching positions of academic science. Additionally, it purported that the reason women only make up 20% of the field is because far fewer women enter the field than do men.

Furthermore, none of the studies explained why the men chose women. Just that they did.
I mean, I could suppose that men simply preferred looking at women's faces.

And the part about maternal leave is odd as well. Women didn't have any preference, but men did.
Perhaps it is still sexism involved in thinking that women should be 'caretakers'.

Anyhoo, my objections notwithstanding, again, none of the listed articles actually counters what I said....simply that in one field, professors favor women over men. These aren't even the people that do the hiring, they're just professors.

 

So you count all professorships in STEM, across College, as one field?  Slightly odd, but ok.

As far as the reasons for why men would hire women who take longer maternity, no clue, but you missed the part where women wouldn't, as in, the women doing the hiring would choose a different candidate if they showed a willingness to take longer maternity, you can theorize many things, could be sexism, but then, that'd also include the women who were choosing different candidates, would it not?  Also missed?  The part where neither female or male faculty members cared about male paternity leave.  Now...that would be sexist, would it not?  When you're using it as a criteria for women, it's supposed to be good enough for men, correct?  Equality and all?

And yes, fewer women enter the field.  Now, why is that?  Sexism?  Or, could women when given the choice, simply choose different paths?  Or, could the absurd levels of 'THAR BE MISOGYNY THERE", that's hammered into the brains of every female growing up, turns them off?  I dunno, I suppose if I were in their shoes, and every day the only thing I heard about science was how it's all men, they objectify women and treat them like shit...might make me choose a different path.

The studies do suggest that the entire story is not being told, however.  And that there's quite clearly some bias in hiring among College faculty.

Teaching is a single field, I know it looks like I'mtaking the piss, but it's like I dunno, epidemiology, or statistician. You can be an epi or stat in many different areas, but the field is still following under one premise with different flavors. Same goes with controller. That's what I am, controller II for cancer diagnostics and statistics. A controller is still the same in every area, mine just happens to involve cancer reports and hospital data.

I think the maternity thing is as far as considering an appointment who would or would not take a maternity leave. In business in general, maternity leaves are supposed to be kinda bad news, because it costs the company, and also would cause problems for the other faculty. I don't know what the men are thinking, but I think the women are probably more aligned to the idea that a woman shouldn't eschew her responsibilities for maternity.

I'm just saying also that a high majority of my college professors were women. My high school was almost all women. My grade school was 100% women, along with the entire faculty aside from the janitor. It's simply possible that people associate teaching positions with women.

I'll agree that in the higher sciences, the disparity is a little higher, but you must also consider that there are a lot of those teachers from other countries, and a lot of countries aren't as forward as I am. Men in certain countries are expected to reach that level and might simply be moving here as their career progresses.