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Hope Hibbard
Ohio State University Vocational Conference
November 19, 1937
Women in Scientific Research
The question of the field of research for women is almost nebulous. No hard and fast rules can be found of just what to do and when to get into it, nor of what to expect when in.
Probably the biggest proof that the field of scientific research is open for women is the fact that there exist women doing it. Florence Sabin, Margaret Lewis, Eleanor Carothers, Irene Corey, Ethel Harvey, Abby Turner, Ruth Lynch, are a few of them. The field is definitely open. But the women who are in it are all good, all have a singleness of purpose and determination to go on with their work regardless of other demands on time and energy.
Scientific research requires a long preparation. Most women are unwilling to undertake it. Women in general are interested in marriage and a home. I should be inclined to say that all women are so interested. But when a man marries he is more than ever concerned with his work; while a women tends to shuffle off the cares of research or job and settle down to the exclusive work of being a home maker. You can't blame the committees responsible for awarding fellowships and scholarships for tending to treat men as more permanent assets in the field of research.
Women hesitate to borrow money for advanced study. They are afraid they won't be able to pay it back before they marry and don't want to saddle their husbands with a debt. If women keep in doing the work they start in, there is no trouble about paying such debts.
It seems to me that there are barriers to continuing a research job after marriage. The general rule is not to do so. It is hard to get a double position for husband and wife. And unless the woman has already gotten well along on her research before marriage she is apt to let it drop. Children impede the progress of scientific investigation too. But here I come back to the fact that many women do actually combine marriage and research to prove that it can be done. I know of one woman, Ethel Harvey who was publishing before her marriage to a Princeton professor, dropped out for the years when her two sons were growing up, and after that long absence is back in it again. She got her picture and a description of her work in Life the other week. Another woman I know gave up her research in Histology for marriage and a small daughter and when her husband died some years later, she went back into it and is doing well. In fact I can think of three widows who have turned back to research after their lives were disrupted, among my acquaintances.
Girls ask how to get into research. Probably the most research in the biological sciences is done by people who are teachers as well. That is approached through a Doctor's degree, or in lesser flash on through a Masters. The perusal of the faculty lists in any college or university catalogue will show that women are on the staffs practically everywhere, except the exclusively men's colleges. I believe the University of Pennsylvania has women doing research but not as professors. Some places are certainly more cordial to women than others, and many places definitely refuse positions to wives of men staff members.
Teaching isn't the only entrance into research. Laboratory technicians, develop into research assistants and research associates. To get into such positions some personal pull is usually necessary. The family physician or the college teacher or some friend knows a scientist needing an assistant, or a hospital where jobs are sometimes available. Frequently the novice, taken on as a volunteer worker, works into something indispensable. Many assistants are picked up at Woods Hole among the students going there for summer courses.
A question also asked is the financial return to be expected in this field. It depends on how good you are. At the top I think women probably receive as much money and recognition as their peers of the other sex. Of course on the way up there is definite discrimination, due probably to the fact of the insecurity of their staying in research.
Through the channel of advanced degrees, women can often make enough to just barely live (On half a shoestring we used to say in my graduate school days). They can be half-time lab assistants, or technicians or preparators or help grade papers. It isn't all a waste of time either. I learned as much Zoology from my half-time assistantships as in any other way I think.Through the channel of laboratory jobs, I know of one student of mine who went into a hospital on a volunteer basis for 6 months and then was advanced to about $1000 a year. Two of last year's graduates from Oberlin have research assistantships this year, one in Cleveland just under a $10OO and the other in NY at $1200 (costs are higher in NY of course). A girl who has been at it for about 8 years is getting $1800, another who has been working only a few years gets $1350. I don't know how much Florence Cabin or Margaret Lewis or Irene Corey receive.
In summary then, women are in it, and at the top. If you are good enough you can get there. Mrs. Margaret Lewis, Mrs. Ethel Brown Harvey, Mrs. Rebecca Lancefield, Mrs. Franz Schrader etc. all prove that research can be done by married women. But the way is hard and most women are unwilling to go into it wholeheartedly enough to stick it out. The fact that you hesitate to borrow money shows that you are harboring a lurking suspicion that marriage would interfere with the repayments, and because of interruption of work.
May I ask earnestly, that you consider the situation of women generally before you throw over some research job suddenly. In spite of my single state I really think marriage is the reasonable and best line women can follow. But for one reason or another some women don't marry and their lot in any field is made more difficult by the thoughtless action of their sisters. I know a laboratory worker and another private research assistant who each threw over the job with practically no notice to be married. Do you think either of their employers will ever hire a woman again? If you think you are interested in research or any other serious work, don't throw it over, at least without a reasonable notice and explanation. Its' unfair as long as women are so few as they are in the field. We're looked at askance and we can't expect anything else as long as irresponsibility reigns.
From Oberlin College Archives • Papers of Hope Hibbard 30/147 Box 1 • Folder "Speechers and Lectures, 1928-39" • Series IIDr. Hope Hibbard (1893-1988) joined the Oberlin faculty in 1928 and retired at the rank of professor in 1961. For more information about her life and papers visit the Oberlin College Archives.
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