Monday, July 27, 2020

MIT women

MIT women Ive noticed, in my travels around the country and the internet, that people are really interested in the experience of female students at MIT. I was asked several times at my grad school interviews how the environment was for female students, and whether I had experienced discrimination as an MIT woman. Ill say right up front although I do understand why people are interested in this question, I find it decidedly odd sort of like someone asking, So, hows the oxygen situation in Cambridge? Is there enough air for everybody to breathe? Just as Ive never noticed a shortage of breathable O2, Ive never experienced discrimination as a female MIT student. I think the reason this question comes to mind are severalfold 1. The School of Science report. Several years ago, female faculty in the School of Science reported that they were discriminated against for their gender. MIT investigated and found that they were, and began taking steps to remedy the situation. 2. The Larry Summers thing. 3. The fact that MIT is a science and engineering school, and even progressive people have this weird mental roadblock against women who get excited about test tubes and servos. Hey, Ive been there. I went to public school in a small-to-medium-sized town in Ohio, and although I had my share of inspiring science teachers, I also had one or two who wondered aloud why a girl would be interested in majoring in science. Im going to graduate school in biology at a time when a lot of my friends from high school are getting married. Its a weird thing to be a female scientist in the world, I guess. But its not a weird thing to be a female scientist at MIT. And while there are more female scientists than female engineers at MIT, its also not a weird thing to be a female engineer here. Majors on the MIT cheerleading squad this year: civil/environmental engineering, mechanical engineering, materials science and engineering, EECS, biology, physics, brain and cognitive sciences, chemical engineering, EAPS, management, mathematics. Yup, those are our cheerleaders. Personally speaking, I like to say that the only discrimination Ive ever faced as an MIT woman is that all the chairs in the microscope room in my lab are too short for me to see into the eyepiece. And all the coats in the mouse room button the guy way. Ive never had my intelligence questioned or my opinion discarded because of my gender people at MIT just arent like that. As long as youre smart and good at what you do, nobody cares whether youre male or female. Well, except maybe people who want to date you. They might care. There are several different ways female students at MIT look at their female-ness. Theres the group, typified by this editorial (written by Cassi Hunt 08), that basically says, Yeah, Im a woman, so what? Then theres the group, represented by this editorial (by my friend Rose 05), thats more Sure, women are treated pretty well here, but things can always get better, so lets work toward that end. Some women at MIT join groups like the Society of Women Engineers or the Association for Women Students (Bryan and Mitra is it still active now that Rose has graduated?); some people take courses in Womens Studies, join sororities, or go to the regular coffee and snacks events for women at MIT. For those who are interested, there are a lot of resources for female students at MIT various student groups, and even an entire suite of women-only rooms on main campus. As far as living groups go, McCormick is all-female (and one of the nicest dorms on campus), and there are all-female suites or sections in many of the other dorms. Personally, Im more in the Im a woman, so what? camp. Ive never joined any of the womens clubs at MIT, and Im not one of the ~25% of MIT women who joined a sorority. I live in a co-ed suite in a co-ed dorm. And while Id encourage prospective women to consider using these resources, its okay if you dont want to. For many of us, our gender doesnt go very far in defining who we are as students. Any other questions on what its like to be an [x] at MIT? Or questions in general? I know lots of you are questionful, and Ill get to some answers next time I check in. EDIT: I stuck a really super, and I think really relevant, poem relating to this issue in my Athena locker. Hey, who says MIT kids dont appreciate poetry?