I should first say that while I'd responded to the invitation to attend the workshop, which was hosted by another faculty to my own, I very nearly didn't attend because in the final instance it looked as though it was about matters for women far more advanced in their careers than me. Then my reading about the 7 Habits kicked in and I thought, 'No. You've RSVPed in the affirmative, thereby making a commitment to attend; people have organised catering according to the expected numbers' and so on. More than that, I had made a promise to myself to meet any commitments that I make, and if I'd broken that resolution at the first hurdle I would have been rather disappointed in myself. In the end, I didn't partake of the refreshments on offer, but I took away some valuable information.
The main thrust of the workshop was about applying for postdoctoral positions, in particular a fellowship for women offered by the University I attend. Again, while I'm not in a position to apply for a postdoc fellowship at the moment, I found the sessions both useful and reassuring, especially as someone whose progress has been delayed for various reasons.
In particular, the explanation of the notion of 'track record relative to opportunity' was enlightening. There's a clear recognition here that not everyone has been afforded the same opportunities to be productive in the ways that count when it comes to the usual criteria for grant applications. This fellowship acknowledges that many women experience interruptions, delays and constraints in pursuing an academic career. The key point here seemed to be that it's the way you present the narrative of your academic career. Effectively it helps to emphasise your plan and your potential: Yes, things may have delayed you in the past, but you have a plan and you are raring to go. This funding will give you the time and space to achieve your concrete plans.
The presentation by the Equity and Diversity consultant was especially useful for me in reflecting upon my last semester of work, and so useful for informing any decisions I make in the future. This is where the Glass Cliff analogy was discussed.
The Glass Cliff refers to the understanding that when women are given leadership positions they are often especially difficult positions. It can be encapsulated in the aphorism: 'Think crisis, think female'. Effectively, women are often set up to fail.
Here I thought about the unit I was offered to coordinate last semester. It was a difficult unit, where the last person who had convened it had received the terrible teaching evaluation results. This was interpreted, in the first instance, as the fault of the academic in question, however, retrospectively, it has been identified that the course itself is difficult because it asks the students to do quite a lot of emotional work and, many of them, despite being adults, are quite immature emotionally. So, here we have an impossible course, one in which everyone who has ever taught it has received poorer results than usual.
I'm not suggesting that I was offered this course so that I would deliberately fail, not at all. Indeed, if anything, I think the person who employed me reached the conclusion about the difficulty of the course long before I did, and he has acknowledged that and apologised. I spent far longer blaming my own inadequacies--of which there are many.
The other aspect of the Equity and Diversity consultant's talk that I felt I could apply to my job last semester was the notion of Stereotype Deviation. Apparently there are many studies that conclude that on the continuums of warm--cold and competent--incompetent, men are allowed to be both warm and competent, but women are either cold and competent or warm and incompetent. If my teaching evaluations are anything to go by, I fall into the second combination available to women. Now of course, there's room for improvement, but if I look critically at the work I presented, then I think it was pretty darn good in terms of the narrative of the course and the range of support materials I compiled and made available to the students from the very beginning of the semester; and I assure you, I've tutored in courses where integral information about a course's structure and its content has been provided in a very last minute way to both tutors and students.
***
After the good sound advice of the workshop I attended, my day ended pleasantly with a dinner with some women I know through social media. All of us are associated with Universities in some way and most of us are doing our PhDs. It was a great night of just talking to people with similar values and soapboxes.
Showing off our blue stockings stripy socks.
No comments:
Post a Comment