sethg@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Seth Gordon) (09/28/88)
A couple days ago, I posted a message about one woman's story of discrimination at MIT, which included the lines: `Incoming women at MIT, she says, are told *explicitly* what majors Women `Should Not Take. A couple people asked *who* told her this, and the answer probably bears posting: male students (the women, she said, didn't say much of anything on this subject), male faculty (not very many female professors), and her male freshman advisor. Some time during her freshman year, when the workload was really wretched, the advisor suggested that maybe she didn't want to go into CS, since after all, she was behind in her classes. Of course, at that time of the year, *all* the freshmen were behind in their classes, but the male CS-aspirants didn't receive that kind of lecture... OK, enough posting other people's stories. There must be MIT students, faculty, and alumnae on the net who can speak for themselves on this subject. -- * L'shana tovah... forgive me my net.sins : Seth Gordon / MIT Brnch., PO Box 53, Cambridge, MA 02139 : bloom-beacon!athena.mit.edu!sethg / standard disclaimer
@hamlet.bitnet:tan@devvax.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Greer H. Tan) (10/12/88)
In article <5446@ecsvax.uncecs.edu> sethg@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Seth Gordon) writes: >A couple days ago, I posted a message about one woman's story of >discrimination at MIT, which included the lines: > >`Incoming women at MIT, she says, are told *explicitly* what majors Women >`Should Not Take. I never got such a lecture nor such discouragement, so I wouldn't say that every woman should expect it. There are probably as many ill qualified advisors at M.I.T. as there are in any other school, and it sounds like Sethg's friend got a lemon. >A couple people asked *who* told her this, and the answer probably bears >posting: male students (the women, she said, didn't say much of anything >on this subject), male faculty (not very many female professors), and >her male freshman advisor. > >Some time during her freshman year, when the workload was really >wretched, the advisor suggested that maybe she didn't want to go into >CS, since after all, she was behind in her classes. Of course, at that >time of the year, *all* the freshmen were behind in their classes, but >the male CS-aspirants didn't receive that kind of lecture... Definitely sounds like a misguided guide here. I'm coming to appreciate the fact that my advisor never gave me any advice! >OK, enough posting other people's stories. There must be MIT students, >faculty, and alumnae on the net who can speak for themselves on this >subject. Okay, I guess I've already established that I'm an MIT Alum ... I had a SUPERB experience at M.I.T. and it may have something to do with the fact that I really can't recall any particular decision or situation in my academic or work experience that was in anyway influenced by my being female (except freshman year, my assistant freshman advisor was an ex-girlfriend of the guy I was dating ... but that's personal and sex differentiation *is* fairly appropriate in personal matters, I think). Perhaps there were a few things that were different because I was a woman, but they couldn't have been too bad or too great because they don't stand out in my mind (I'm class of '87 ... I don't remember being diagnosed for senility ... ). I am a computer science major, I've loved math for as long as I can remember (perhaps it started when I was crowned Math Queen of the week too many times in a row that I had to be disqualified from the contest when I was in third grade) and was convinced that I would be an engineer when I grew up. I had my sights set on M.I.T. since I was a sophomore in High School. I've consulted on Project Athena (M.I.T.'s aspiring computer system/network/backbone), taught technical seminars, assisted in teaching a course at the Harvard Extention School on Local Area Networks, headed up the consulting team at Project Athena ... and served fast food at Twenty Chimneys (sp?). I chose my thesis topic just because I needed a thesis and the topic struck me as being interesting. It was a study in behavioral science centered around computers. Though I had a difficult time getting a professor to agree to be my advisor, I wasn't short on support (only commitment). I can honestly say that I was never discouraged from pursuing something because I was a woman but more likely because the whole idea was not good. I am currently working on my Master's Degree part time at U.S.C. and I've still yet to encounter any resistance to anything I'm doing ... which I don't really think is good ... someone once said to me that you can use resistance to make yourself stronger by having to overcome it ... without resistance, you may be lulled into a false feeling of strength. Well, whatever! Anyways, then ... within 9 months of coming to JPL, I was at the right place at the right time and am now *heading* the small team (3 including myself) of developers that I was originally hired into -- (the CDE -- as we call them -- that had me hired, left and I've taken his place ... lucky me!) Now, my opinion is this ... if life can be peachy for someone (ANYONE ... male OR female) out there in the world, for no real apparent reason, then life can be peachy for me. Optimism? I think it's like money ... it doesn't make the world go round, but it sure makes it worth the ride ... or in optimism's case ... just make the ride a lot easier to take. Greer Tan tan%jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov