Essay On Career In Academia

Career in Academia-A Woman's Perspective

by Rakhi Acharyya

Hear hear, men have 10% more grey brain matter than women, they have better spatial, math and logical abilities, nurture prefers boys to be pro-math/science, girls are usually about 4 years behind boys in logical understanding, and that aunt next door is always telling all moms "what's the point of sending her to get a higher degree?"

So these are the odds against women in academia, even more so in the scientific community. But even with all the odds, when I was doing my BS in Physics in Delhi University, my class had nearly 15 girls and 2 guys. When I went on to do my MS at IIT, a significant number of high scorers in my class were girls. Oh no! not me. I pretty much survived with an abundance of C's and D's.

When I got accepted at Michigan State in US for my PhD, one of my aunt's called my mom with a marriage alliance. "Not advisable to send your daughter abroad without a man by her side", she said. My mom, the champ she is, very politely said, "But the whole

It could arise from the inability to set aside the belief that men are smarter in logical understanding or that women may not be able to punch in long hours due to family demands. Not to mention the proverbial biological clock tick. When the rest of the 20 something is graduating, getting jobs and then starting families, PhD students are usually preparing for comprehensive exams, seminars, committee meetings and defense. Graduating between the wrong side of 20s to the dawn of ones' 30s usually leaves women with only a few years to get that Post Doc, that grant, that permanent faculty position and that lab set up, all while getting that right guy, have and then take care of any child. Academia moves at a pretty fast pace, so sometimes those few months in maternity leave can be enough for any male counterpart to write a paper or