Are We Really Drips?
admin October 14th, 2008
Ask any woman who has left academic science for another career and you are sure to hear about her sense of guilt; guilt for “wasting” her training, guilt for not living up to expectations, guilt for becoming another negative point on the female academic census. Women who leave academia to go on to successful careers as businesswomen, lawyers, teachers, writers, and industrial researchers, to name a few, often still refer to themselves as “drips” in the academic pipeline. What is so incredible about these women is that this guilt remains regardless of the circumstances that led to their alternate careers. The term “drip” connotes someone who whether via insurmountable obstacles or some personal flaw could not maintain a steady path to the goal. What neither the word nor the statistics elucidate are the many women who could have become professors, but who make conscious and courageous decisions to jump off the academic path for their own reasons.
A trend is growing in the national workforce. Young professionals are no longer content to labor simply for wealth, promotion, and prestige. Workers want to enjoy their jobs. They want to work in pleasant environments with competent people, and they want balance. Corporations are acknowledging this trend and are offering flextime and other benefits in an effort to keep valuable employees who might otherwise leave to work at home or more accommodating offices. Young women are no different. No longer content to toil under several years of apprenticeship to eventually claim tenure and a professorial seat they may not enjoy, educated women are looking elsewhere, to places where they feel their work will be fulfilling and help achieve unique personal goals. Why do we still consider an academic career the best path for doctoral females? Why is any other career considered a drip?
Labeling women who leave academia to pursue careers they have deemed more favorable as “drips” does these pioneering scientists a disservice. These women are not failures. They are leaders. The goal should not be to attract as many women as possible into the academic ranks, but to ensure that all qualified females who want to achieve these positions are able. It is time we changed perspective by acknowledging these women, and distinguishing them from those who would have welcomed a professorial placement, yet were unable to achieve it. Certainly there still is much to accomplish in academia when it comes to attracting and promoting female scientists. We can start with making an effort to eliminate the guilt that academic culture places on women by indiscriminately labeling them “drips,” and acknowledge that the goal should be helping young female scientists find their own best careers, not blindly pumping them through the pipeline.