...and why reasonable people make a big difference.
Act I: The Good
Setting: Graduate school. Reasonable male graduate student (RMGS) walks into our shared lab space and sits down at the computer next to me.
RMGS: Congratualations on your job offer.
Me: Thanks!
RMGS: I was really wondering what was going on with the job market recently.
Me: What do you mean?
RMGS: Well, it seemed like the female graduate students were getting all the academic jobs. I was really beginning to wonder why.
Me: Uh....
RMGS: Then I realized that all the finishing graduate students I know are women! [makes self-deprecating gesture]
Act II: The Bad
Setting: Graduate school.
Younger male graduate student (YMGS) is told by advisor to give group meeting in three weeks on project involving a collaborator from a sexist European country (SEC). YMGS proceeds to do more work in the following three weeks than he has in the last year. He gives a good group meeting presentation. He then leaves for a term of collaborative research abroad, unrelated to current project.
Advisor assigns me additional work on project, gives me paper to write up and puts me on as second author. This is totally reasonable. The SEC collaborator is added because he made the stuff we did our stuff on, though the making of said stuff is not described in this paper.
Authorship is as follows:
YMGS, Me, Advisor
R1 University, USA
and
Collaborator
SEC University
We send the paper to our collaborator in Sexist European Country.
Authorship comes back:YMSG and Advisor
R1 University, USA
and
Male Student, Another Male Student, Collaborator
SEC Univeristy
Act III: The Ugly
Setting: e-mail message to administrator at my small college
To: A. Dean, Academic Affairs
From: Male Chair, Physchemology
Time: June
Subject: Twice
I understand that Professor Twice may have had to take it easy at the end of the semester when she was pregnant with twins. However, she had the babies almost two weeks ago! Why isn't she back working?
Epilogue I
Advisor's Office
Me: Do you have a minute?
Advisor: Come in. What is it?
Me: Um, we got this paper back from Collaborator at SEC U. He's added the names of two of his students, which I am okay with, as I assume they made [stuff]. But, um..., my name is no longer on the paper.
Advisor, hiding anger: I will take care of this.
Epilogue II
E-mail message from female administrator with three kids.
To: M. Chair, Physchemology
From: A. Dean, Academic Affairs
Date: June
Subject: [Re: Twice]
As far as the college is concerned, Professor Twice is on medical leave for eight weeks after the date of her surgery.
Technorati: scientiae-carnival
5 Comments:
Oh grr... I'm fuming about the "why isn't she back at work after two weeks" one... may he be inflicted with painful kidney stones and suffer to pass them while people wonder why he isn't back at work yet!
That really is ugly.
The American idea of eight weeks maternity leave is ugly too. Even the SEC probably has better maternity leave than that.
On the one hand, I like the response of "eight weeks after her SURGERY", i.e. "babies do not fall from the sky. Wake the hell up."
On the other hand, this guy is ostensibly intelligent. Why isn't it enough here to just say "she had a BABY. Wait, babIES. She, you know, a little occupied."
Elli, I agree, but she decided to stick with formal college policy. Of course, it was June and I have a nine month contract, so one wonders why any response was needed at all.
If you have any spare reasonable humans to donate, we're currently experiencing a shortage!
Very ugly. And twins! Next time somebody shoves a bowling ball up sensitive portions of his anatomy, he can come back in two weeks and see what it feels like.
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