Anna Ruth Brummett Women in Science Conference April 21, 1973   Isolation and Tokenism: Problems of Women in Science

I think I first started feeling a bit isolated in my high school math and physics classes where I was one of two or three girls in classes of 25 or 30. The only reason it didn't bother me very much was that I usually managed to be at or very near the top of my class, and this position automatically carried a fair amount of respect and recognition. It was a little lonely, however, because I certainly wasn't "one of the boys"

About midway through my freshmen year in college -- a small junior college in my home town -- essentially all of the men in the college had been drafted or had enlisted in the armed forces and the college became predominantly female. Early in the summer following that freshmen year I saw a brief article in the local paper which stated that the government was looking for women between the ages of 18 and 35 who had had at least one year of college which included math and physics. Such women were invited to apply for a 6 month training program to be held at U. of Missouri. I talked this over with my parents--my mother supported me--my father was against it because it would mean my leaving home. I applied for the program for two reasons: 1) I had no money to continue college beyond one more year at the local junior college and such a job would allow me to earn and save money toward completing my college education, and 2) all of my male friends were in the armed forces and most of the female friends were married, working, or away at college which left me pretty isolated. I was admitted to the program and went to the U. of Missouri and it was there that I got my first real taste of sexist attitudes toward me as a woman. The professors in the College of Engineering who were employed to teach the courses were insufferably sexist in their attitudes. They felt they were really being imposed upon -- in spite of the fact that they would have had no students if it weren't for these EMSWT programs. But it was obvious that they felt that trying to teach engineering courses to a group of giddy females was impossible and downgrading. They put very little into their teaching -- they came in and gave their lectures and left -- essentially refusing to answer any questions. Fortunately there were two younger men -- not members of the regular engineer faculty who were employed as full-time assistants in the program -- primarily to run the labs but also to help in any other way possible. They were with the class for the full 48 hours each week. They were sympathetic and helpful and without them the courses would have been very difficult if not impossible. Even so, the attrition was 50%.

Prior to this experience, I had entertained the notion of going into engineering or some aspect of mathematics as a career. The attitude of the engineering professor towards us as women made me begin to doubt this wisdom of proceeding in that direction. I completed the additional two months of practical work with aircraft radio and radar equipment in Dayton (where more of the same kind of attitude was evidenced by the instructors) and was assigned to a position as "Engineering Aide" in the aircraft Radio laboratories at Wright Field. The longer I worked there the more I became convinced that prejudice against women in that field was more than I wanted to take. About half of the engineers in the branch I was assigned to -- both civilian and military -- were much less bright than the women working as engineering aides. The women were doing most of the engineer's work--and, of course, the engineers were earning most of the salary. This was my introduction to the real world of work. I worked at Wright Field for a year and a half and during that time I became increasingly convinced that engineering was not a career for me as a woman. It became obvious to me that a woman would have had to be a genius to get anywhere with such a career. The clincher came when I got to know a young black woman working in my branch. She has a masters degree in math and physics; she was much brighter and much better educated than any engineer in the branch with the possible exception of the Civil Branch Chief -- but she was relegated to work as an assistant to the least able (and also the least personable) engineer in the branch. It was a very depressing situation.

I discovered Biology during sophomore year in college. I must say that as a student of biology I never felt discriminated against by professors or fellow students. I was discriminated against by social rules and regulation -- as were all women students. The only time I really resented the fact that I had to keep dormitory hours was when I was doing research and could not go to the lab to work at night as could my male colleagues.

Having completed my bachelors and masters degrees at a coeducational institution, I made the rather unusual switch to a Woman's college for my Ph.D. As one might expect, I felt neither discrimination nor isolation as a graduate student at Bryn Mawr. Both my department chairman and my research adviser were women and both were outstanding scholars who were highly respected.

When I completed my Ph.D. I was interviewed for and was offered three jobs -- one was as a biology teacher in a good private school (that one paid the best), the second was as a research assistant to a very well known experimental embryologist and the third was Instructor of Biology at Carleton College. I accepted the third. Interestingly enough, the reason I was hired by Carleton was that the Dean was actively looking for women faculty -- this was 1953 -- because he was concerned about the fact that not many Carleton women students went on to graduate school. He reasoned that if there were more women on the faculty it might encourage women students in this direction. A very far-sighted man!

The only problem with my situation at Carleton was that the Dean hired me -- I was interviewed by him in New York and accepted the job without visiting the campus or meeting the department chair who turned out to be much less interested in having women on the faculty than was the Dean. I taught introductory biology for two years with no indication from the chairman that would be given a course in my area of specialization (embryology -- which continued to be taught by physiologist). I indicated to the Dean that I was not happy with this situation and he apparently convinced the chairman that he could give me the course in embryology. At the end of the third year I was finally promoted to Assistant Professor (all men were promoted after one year as Instructor). I stayed at Carleton for a total of eight years during which time I fell further behind where I should have been on the salary scale. I liked many things about the institution and in many ways hated to leave, but I felt it necessary to my professional future, so when the opportunity at Oberlin developed, I came here. Again I was disappointed at the rank and salary offered me -- and I still think Oberlin got a real bargain -- but I came in the hope that things would get better, and they did, but even so I was not promoted to Associate Professor until after I had completed a total of 15 years in college teaching -- and I had to make somewhat of an issue of it then. But, back to the question of isolation.

Even though I have been the only woman in the Biology department most of my time here, I have never felt isolated by the members of my dept. Only one member of the department appeared reluctant to include me in informal coffee or beer gatherings and he was a kind of strange bachelor who was here only my first year. Many of my best friends at Oberlin have been married couples who haven't felt uncomfortable about including a single women in their social gatherings -- and going places by myself has not bothered me for many years now -- just as I have gotten used to being the only women in many situations -- in my department, frequently in the entire science division -- in Sigma Xi meetings, and on many committees.

With respect to committees the fact that I am a woman has resulted in my being appointed to an inordinate number of committees -- there are very few women on the faculty and if a woman's point of view is wanted (for example on the Student Life Committee) or if for some other reason (tokenism?) it is thought desirable to have women represented, there just aren't many of us to go around. So you find yourself being expected to serve on many more committees than is really reasonable. But I know many of my male colleagues feel the same way about their committee involvements.

One final area that I'd like to touch on is my role as a woman teacher of male college students. I enjoy teaching coeducational classes and have purposely avoided jobs in Woman's colleges. We have recently been emphasizing the importance of woman teachers for woman students -- the effects are obvious and their importance recognized. But I think it is equally important to male students to have woman faculty -- and perhaps particularly in science. One reason, of course, is so that they will see women in such positions and, hopefully, will subsequently be less inclined to think of women as incapable of being scientists. But, in addition to this, I think men -- particularly young adults -- frequently need to be able to talk with an older woman whose intellectual capabilities they respect but for some reason -- probably socialization -- they find it easier to talk with than they do men faculty -- especially when they are feeling unsure about themselves and their ability to cope with a particular situation. Men, I believe, simply find it possible to be themselves more easily with older women than with older men. Perhaps someday a men's liberation movement will serve to alleviate this problem.

Well, I'm afraid I have not stuck very closely to the question of isolation and tokenism, but I can honestly say that while I sometimes feel my isolation as a woman scientist, for the most part, my being the only woman in a group is so much a part of my life that I rarely even think about it any more.

Professor of Biology Anna Ruth Brummett (1924-1985) served on the Oberlin faculty for 24 years. For more information visit the Oberlin College Archives