what is it like to be a Black female in the STEM field?

[Miro]

please share your two cents on this topic. what is it like to be a black female in the STEM field? any pros or cons? things you wish you could change and see more of.

 

My university has this new initiative to attract more minorities ( specifically black females) to the university. however some of the ones here are leaving the university to teach at historically black institutions ( HBCU's).

 

all opinions are welcome ( its not a black or woman  thing).

[prettyuff1]

 Hi.... I am a Black, single parent and in Pharmacology department at a pretty heavy research university..  My department has such an initiative and thats why there is usually a minority in each class.  For me, it doesnt really matter. Usually I am the only black person where I am , so it doesnt bother me. Most of the time people treat you  just the same.

 

 It has been interesting, because i am ready to walk away from the department and they are like NOOOOOOO YOU ARE STAYING..   I think it can be used to your advantage because they will want to keep you in the program, and will be more willing to work with you to make sure you're happy and progressing.

[juilletmercredi]

I thought about this a lot this weekend during my prospectives weekend.  I'm in psychology, a field that straddles the STEM and social science world - we have laboratories and do experiments and my department primarily focuses on cognitive psychology, experimental social psychology and neuroscience.  And in any case, I am the only black female student in the entire department.  Our cohorts are about 6-12 students in size and any given year we have 5 full cohorts and sort of parts of a 6th in residence, so I'd say that there are anywhere from 40-60 grad students in the department.  There are two black guys (one of the other black guys is in my cohort) and then me.

I can only speak as a student at my own institution, but honestly it's far better than I thought it would be.  My classmates treat me like one of them.  I don't feel that they tiptoe around my race, but they don't bring it up unnecessarily either.  I don't feel overtly discriminated against by professors, and in fact I think they do their best to try to include me in things.  I feel welcomed and a part of my department, and I don't feel like people here don't take me seriously as a researcher because of my gender or race.  Our department is mixed pretty equally as far as gender goes, so that definitely has a lot to do with the gender part.  I think it is kind of assumed that I will be interested in racial research topics, but that doesn't bother me because I AM.

Most of the stuff I experience is more covert and institutional, not any one particular person's "fault."  For example, you walk into the library or the department and all the historical paintings of trustees, alumni, professors and and important friends of the university are of old white men.  It seems silly, but it sort of gives you the impression that for 250 years this university was totally fine without you; you are an interloper, an invader, not part of the legacy of the place.  Or when a classmate of mine makes a casual remark that it must be "so hard" to find a community sample of black gay men in my major US city (news flash: it really isn't).  That wasn't intentionally mean or anything, and he was actually lauding my study, but it's like one of those squint-your-eye moments.

Or when you're constantly thinking about racial effects even when no one else is, but you don't want to be "that person" to ask about it during class.  I once had a jerk professor in class who did research on power in the workplace tell me that racial and gender considerations were "just demographics," so why would I be asking about them, and just refused to answer my question and moved onto someone else.  And in psychology, a lot of the experiments use the subject pool.  Well, I go to an elite private university so our subject pool is overwhelmingly white, aged 18 to 22, and middle- to upper-middle-class or higher.  I sometimes wonder about their research findings and their applicability outside of the lab.

Or it's just like the only black people I see around the department - with the exception of two professors, are working construction or custodial services or at best administrative support in the front office.  It's sort of depressing when you look for role models in the faculty and there really aren't many of you.  And that's also true when you're looking at positions in the future to become a professor, and you're realizing that you'll be interviewing with a department full of white people, mostly older white men.  I got my hair braided over the winter break and I was a bit worried about how people would receive it in the department.  Would people perceive me as more black, and thus more militant and less suited for a research career, if I interviewed or presented in braids?  What about my natural hair (I'm transitioning)?  You always wonder about these things when you are the Only One, but at a certain point I had to give it up and recognize that I don't WANT to be at places where people are wondering if I'm going to burn the building down just because I have a 'fro.

But overall, I've had a great experience.  Very rarely do I wonder "Did they do that because I'm black/a black woman?"  People treat me the same.  And there's tons of money.  Everybody wants to give me money!