Originally published
March 19, 2013
Although the U places an emphasis on the sciences, in many science courses there are only a few women in a sea of men.
To address this issue, the U has more than five groups targeted at boosting the participation of women in the hard sciences, such as chemistry, physics and astronomy, biology and mathematics.
The ACCESS Program, which began in 1991, has been around the longest and has continuously shown success through increased graduation rates, said Rosemary Gray, director of the program.
Emily Frary, a junior in chemistry, was a part of the ACCESS Program her freshman year. As part of the program, she came to the U for a seven-week summer program with 40 other women before starting fall classes, and she learned about the various science options available at the U.
The program also gives freshmen the opportunity to conduct research in a lab. Like all ACCESS students, Frary graduated from the program after her first year, but the close friendships and relationships she gained with professors continue.
She is now the president of a club that many ACCESS students join called The Organization for Women in Science, which ASUU and the College of Science fund.
The organization takes trips to local places like the Tracy Aviary, the Natural History Museum of Utah and The Leonardo to learn from other scientists.
The Curie Club, a group for women in the Department of Chemistry, brings in female scientists to speak about women and science from an educational and social standpoint, said Shelley Minteer, professor in the Department of Chemistry. It is named for the famous female scientist, Marie Curie, who won the Nobel Prize for discovering new elements at the turn of the 20th century. The major goal of the club is to provide role models for female chemistry students.
“Until women have strong role models, it’s hard to get women involved,” Minteer said. “To have a critical mass of women at all levels helps.”
She said chemistry and other departments in the past only hired one female faculty member, and they would rarely stay long at the U. By hiring multiple women, female faculty are more likely to stay. This provides varied examples to female students of how to be successful in the sciences while offering support to the other professors.
“It’s helpful when you’re around others who are struggling with similar things,” she said. “We remember that we’re all in this together.”
Hiring more than one female faculty member in each department has proved more successful in recent years. For the first time, the number of female faculty in the Department of Physics and Astronomy is greater than one. There are currently three female faculty out of 39 total, said Pearl Sandick, a professor in the department who was hired in 2011. Overall, the College of Science faculty is at a little more than 20 percent female, said Denise Dearing, professor in biology. This is double what it was only 10 years ago.
Dearing said the Department of Biology seems to be doing better than other sciences having about a 50 percent female student population in undergraduate and graduate years.
Pierre Sokolsky, the dean of the College of Science, is trying to expand the participation of women from all levels.
“Without diversity, we’re not going to solve our problems,” Sokolsky said. “You’re not going to find scientists who don’t want to solve problems.”
In the past few years, there have been 20 hires within the college and more than half were women. Sokolsky is hoping the College of Science can become representative of the population and is happy to see doors opening for women.
Kallie Bracken, a junior in mathematics, believes these opportunities have been available for some time now. As a member of the ACCESS Program her freshman year, she was extremely thankful for networking opportunities the program allowed. She does not feel any disadvantage because she is a woman.
“To be successful in anything — science or whatever — you have to just believe,” Bracken said. “There are obstacles in everything, and I don’t think that being a woman is an obstacle.”
While not confronting these trials herself, she has met other science students who feel the barrier through past professors or parents.
“They never sat us down and said, ‘You can do this even though you’re women’ because it was obvious … We had already passed that point,” she said.
She has noticed there are far more men in her science classes, especially her math and computer science-focused classes. She said it does not dishearten her.
Sandick and Inese Ivans, a fellow professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, were told not to come to Utah because of women’s issues here. While Ivans believes the stereotype was a bit exaggerated, she has felt some of the disparities, which she attributes to the culture.
“It’s embedded in the culture that has not been open-armed,” Ivans said. “In electrical engineering, there is a course that’s required, and there are three women in a 60-student course. We can’t get past the stats, so it’s a problem.”
Ivans and Gray of ACCESS are shocked this issue is still so current. While seeing disparities through schooling, Gray did not come against much opposition until she decided to have a child. The clash of raising a family while pursuing the difficult education required for a science degree is what many believe turns women away.
Sokolsky is trying to offer both women and men in the faculty better options for family time to make the U more enticing, such as providing paid leave when a baby is born.
With programs like BioKids, children of U staff and faculty can be watched while their parents are at work. BioKids takes preference for faculty in biology first, but all are welcome. Dearing started it in 1999 after she spoke with other biology professors, and they felt day care on campus was necessary.
“Child care is a big issue,” Dearing said. “People wonder, ‘How will I be able to succeed in the sciences and have a family?’”