Dr. Shellie

When I got in the taxi, the driver warned me that he had a rat in the front seat. "Don’t worry– it’s in a cage," he said. "I’m taking it to visit its family and maybe get another one, so it doesn’t get lonely. They’re happier in pairs. And I wasn’t sure about bringing it along on the job, but then I was standing in line for football tickets, and got to the shift late, and by then I figured I’d just be driving for a few hours, and why not just bring the rat, rather than drive all the way back home to get it and then out to where the guy who breeds rats lives. It’s my kids’ rat. We always had rats growing up– people called us the rat family. And then I didn’t have any for a while, but now I have her."

It was cute, for a rat– white with black spots– kind of like a mouse. Only much bigger.

There is a discussion on Inside HigherEd about the National Academy of Sciences report. Go check it out if you are interested.

I am increasingly frustrated with the issue of discrimination against women in academia. Rhetorically, women are being put in the position of having to prove that discrimination exists, against the claims of their opponents, who claim that the gender ratio in science is in fact due to other factors (biology, interests, etc.).

I don’t like the way this debate is framed. It puts women in a weak position, to argue the evidence for their own poor treatment.

And anyway, I have no interest in proving that discrimination exists. I would much rather believe that discrimination (or it’s softer cousin, "bias") does not exist and just focus on helping myself succeed.

On the other hand, if even the small group of bloggers who write about gender and science and academia don’t even bother to comment on Internet discussion forums about gender, science, and academia, where will things be? Before stepping into the fray, what I need to figure out is how we can reframe this discussion.

I was chatting with the carpenter at work, a multi-talented guy who was a touring rock musician in the 70’s and is now also a nondenominational minister who says weddings on the weekends. He asked what was new. "Well, I’m going to [Economically Depressed Eastern City] for a conference next week," I said, not very enthusiastically.

"Wow, that’s great," he said. "Is that something they pay you to do? I think it’s really cool that they basically pay you to use your brain. In all the years I have been here, I just come to work every day and do the same stuff. You might think they’d have me go teach people something, like how not to get splinters or whatnot, but no. That’s the value of an education– always doing new things."