Profs vs patriarchy: Academia has a sexism problem

Profs vs patriarchy: Academia has a sexism problem

Last week, Dr Biden’s title became a flashpoint but bias goes beyond honorifics Many doctorates say they have to deal with condescension and gender stereotypes

Ketaki.Desai@timesgroup.com

21.12.2020

You’d think there are some positives to studying in a women’s college –– a sense of liberation perhaps, and of existing outside the confines of the male gaze ––but often there is no running away from gender stereotypes. That was what Dr Naina Bose*, an assistant professor at an Indian university, discovered when she went to do her masters. “We had a class on conflict resolution and the professor was asking us to visualise a harmonious setting, like where the man is sitting on a couch and the woman is happily cooking in the kitchen. In those moments, you feel reduced to your gender identity,” she says. Now, a professor in the social sciences herself, she is bothered by how female professors get treated –– being introduced as someone’s “young colleague” in a professional setting, being expected to organise food for every conference or dealing with male students who feel your expertise is not a given, but something you need to prove via verbal sparring.

Sexism in academia isn’t restricted to India or humble college professors. Last week, an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal chastised the soonto-be First Lady Dr Jill Biden for using the title “Dr.” since her doctoral degree in education was deemed inadequate by the author Joseph Epstein who, in a tone dripping in condescension, referred to Dr Biden as “kiddo”. The social media reaction was fast and forceful –– many women with doctorates began to affix their titles on their social media accounts and spoke up about their brushes with bias.

Dr Vidita Vaidya, neuroscientist and Professor at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, says people tend to think of academia as evolved. “It’s as though you expect that anyone who spends time in the higher pursuits of learning should evolve to incorporate value systems associated with equity but that’s not a given. You will find some of the most egalitarian people here and others who are incredibly patriarchal.”

While misogyny exists in various fields, there are certain systemic issues in STEM that make it more of an uphill climb for women. Hansika, a biology student who dropped out of her PhD last year, says, “The major issue with science academia is that your data belongs to the institute,” she says. “If you encounter a problem and report it against a post-doc or principal investigator (PI), you’re losing access to years of data. Five-six years of work can disappear overnight.”

While a few years ago, the crowdsourced list of sexual harassers in academia led to some conversation in academic spaces, not much has changed. Kamala* has been applying for PhDs in Delhi after completing two masters degrees. “The ideology is simple ––what can you give us? Once I had gone to a department for an interview and the professor told me to ‘stay available’ and to come visit him to spend time. They touch female student’s shoulders and, at first, I thought it was innocent, but it’s not,” she says. A friend of hers had a similar experience where a professor asked her to come to his guesthouse to discuss admissions but when she went to see him at the college, he denied ever calling her.

For some, their careers are derailed before they can even begin because of marriage pressures and academia’s reputation. Jyoti Gupta, 23, who recently completed her MCom from Delhi University, just got the first rank in the UGC NET JRF exam. “I want to do an MPhil or PhD but my parents are not allowing me to. They have heard that there are many sexual harassment cases against professors by girls at the PhD level. They want me to go for civil services but I’m not interested in that,” she says. “They also feel a PhD will take too long so when will I get married and settle down.”

Even decisions about the research topic can be rooted in gender, says Dr Bose. “In the distribution of research agendas, women are meant to be concerned only with feminist theory ––which I am –– but no man feels the need to work on masculinity. They focus on things like war and government.”

And when it comes to titles, Dr Bose has noticed how very often she’s called Dr Naina, instead of her last name being used. Aashima Dogra, science writer and co-founder of feminist science media collective The Life of Science, points out that if you google “doctor shrimati” today, many results come up. “A lot of websites of institutions use “shrimati” or “kumari” or in English, they use “Dr (Mrs.)”. This sends out the signal that it matters if female scientists are married or not.”

Dogra brings up a 1990 letter written by Dr Veronica Rogrigues of TIFR that illustrates how much more work needs to be done. It reads: “I feel that appending (Kum) or (Ms) to the names of women scientists in official correspondences is not only unnecessary, but also unacceptable. This practice should be stopped unless you consider qualifying men scientists with (Shri) or (Kumar).”

*Name changed on request

In the distribution of research agendas, women are meant to be concerned only with feminist theory but no man feels the need to work on masculinity. They focus on things like war and government