The Only Woman in the Room

Why Science Is Still a Boys' Club

De: Eileen Pollack

Narrado por: Gayle Hendrix

Named one of the notable nonfiction books of 2015 by The Washington Post.

A bracingly honest exploration of why there are still so few women in the hard sciences, mathematics, engineering, and computer science.

In 2005, when Lawrence Summers, then president of Harvard, asked why so few women, even today, achieve tenured positions in the hard sciences, Eileen Pollack set out to find the answer. A successful fiction writer, Pollack had grown up in the 1960s and '70s dreaming of a career as a theoretical astrophysicist. Denied the chance to take advanced courses in science and math, she nonetheless made her way to Yale. There, despite finding herself far behind the men in her classes, she went on to graduate summa cum laude, with honors, as one of the university's first two women to earn a bachelor of science degree in physics. And yet, isolated, lacking in confidence, starved for encouragement, she abandoned her ambition to become a physicist.

Years later, spurred by the suggestion that innate differences in scientific and mathematical aptitude might account for the dearth of tenured female faculty at Summer's institution, Pollack thought back on her own experiences and wondered what, if anything, had changed in the intervening decades.

Based on six years interviewing her former teachers and classmates as well as dozens of other women who had dropped out before completing their degrees in science or found their careers less rewarding than they had hoped, The Only Woman in the Room is a bracingly honest, no-holds-barred examination of the social, interpersonal, and institutional barriers confronting women - and minorities - in the STEM fields. This frankly personal and informed book reflects on women's experiences in a way that simple data can't, documenting not only the more blatant bias of another era but all the subtle disincentives women in the sciences still face.

The Only Woman in the Room shows us the struggles women in the sciences have been hesitant to admit and provides hope for changing attitudes and behaviors in ways that could bring far more women into fields in which even today they remain seriously underrepresented.

©2015 Eileen Pollack (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Insightful for this woman in STEM

As a woman in a STEM field, I found this memoir insightful. I’ve often wondered “where did I go wrong”, when looking at how much more “successful” my male classmates and colleagues have been than I have. I never felt it was my potential - I graduated cum laude, I finished my professional exams albeit a bit slowly. I’ve wondered how is it a male acquaintance with C’s in college, who passed the credentialing exams even slower than I did, could be a vice president nohereas my A’s and B’s never got me above individual contributor status. I don’t think it’s the quality of my work, I have often been sought after by colleagues for my technical and technological skills, my abilities to problem solve….

Eileen’s work spoke to me. It resonated. I find it to be important and insightful - and as Eileen notes in her epilogue, if it’s so difficult for women to enter these fields, I can only imagine the obstacles for other minorities… and for those who identify as more than one minority.

I can only hope this country and these fields are more accommodating for those who follow me, like my niece.

Interesting Topic

I was just a decade ahead of the author and was also the only girl in the class; but, I have spent my life in the field of science and have witnessed some changes in attitude. There still is a big room for improvement, but as more women enter science it will continue to change.

The book is well written. The author is an excellent writer and maybe she was right in changing her profession from science to writing. The book is an interesting read and could be helpful to a young woman wanting to go into the STEM field.

The book is eleven hours and thirty-seven minutes. Gayle Hendrix does a good job narrating the book.

Interesting book. Al lot of narrative

As a young woman aspiring toward a degree and career in the STEM field, the description of The Only Woman in the Room captured my attention. The book is split into two or three sections. The beginning part detailing the author’s own narrative and personal experience with doubt, sexism, and exclusion in the STEM field. The second part is supported by interviews, research, and other forms of logical reasoning to explain the disparity between men and women and why it exists.

Somewhat disappointing analysis

It is unfortunate that a book that started off so well and had me completely on board with the thesis degenerated in the last several chapters to falling into its own trap. It is a shame that Ms Pollack has chosen to jump on the bandwagon that so many apparently have thoughtlessly enjoyed - bashing "The Big Bang Theory" television show as representative of stereotypical gender bias in the sciences. I am here to say, far from it. The Big Bang Theory has been the saving grace of many who see themselves in the characters. Unfortunately this book was published in 2015 and The Big Bang Theory continued for several seasons after, during which time the women on the show proved their metal, the men matured, and with the love and acceptance without judgement, they all became a little less awkward in their own skins. Particularly in the personage of Penny.

Penny, presumed to be the blonde, bimbo, comic relief, or "mascot" of the group, is actually a woman with a brain, compassion, common sense and a willingness to learn. She is the non-judgmental den mother to both the men and the women in the show. Penny is EXACTLY the prototype female Ms Pollack's work is trying to assist. She's actually a really smart and capable woman who, because of her looks and our culture, has been pigeonholed into thinking all she's good for is being an actress and is waiting tables to make ends meet.

I am a "Penny". I was smart, read above my age level, tested in the 99th percentile in all subjects ... until we got to 5th grade at which point both my math and spelling seemed to suffer. And now I know why. In spite of my parents supporting me in whatever interesred me, teachers in school gave boys 2nd chances when I was just told "wrong". I also started to develop a figure and learned pretty quickly what cute, sassy, and sexy could get me.

I remained in AP classes, but by the time I got to college I had been so discouraged about being passed over when I had serious questions about mathematics that I was doing so poorly in math I was "disrecommended" from taking any college level math and fulfilled my natural science course requirements by taking survey level geology and astronomy. But I continued to hang out with kids who were in math, science, physics, engineering, and chemistry - both males and females - and I was the competent, practical one, the den mother. And .... We all LOVE "The Big Bang Theory " because we see ourselves in it.

And at the age of 40 I began to understand that i was not "math stupid" when one of those women in that group of college friends (who had sat for The Putnam) started explaining algebra to me in a way that made complete sense. She showed me how I use it every day in everything I did in my life. I wish I had been taught by someone like her back in the day. Perhaps I would have had a much more rounded education and potentially a different career trajectory. As things go in the show, Penny eventually stops being a waitress and drops the concept of trying to be an actress (aka trading on her charms and thinking that's all she's good for) and starts working for a pharmaceutical firm as a sales rep. She's very good at it and she discovers she's not as stupid about science as she thought she was.

So if the point of the author was to ENCOURAGE women in math and science education, she might rethink bashing some of the few role models some of us look to:

"When Bernadette was first introduced, she was a fellow waitress at The Cheesecake Factory who was getting her degree in microbiology. After she and Howard became serious, she began working for a company that paid for her to get her PhD. Later in the series, it's noted that Bernadette is the head of her department at a pharmaceutical company called ZanGen. When her company hires Penny, it's shown how powerful she is in her role and that she makes a "butt load" of money."

"Amy is a Harvard graduate who has her PhD in neurobiology. Not much is said about Amy's day-to-day life in the lab but she has talked about her research with capuchin monkies. While she didn't work at Caltech with the guys, she did get transferred there for a few weeks to do a study. She has also mentioned doing work at UCLA's lab as well, which could be where she worked full-time as a researcher. By the end of the series, Amy's knowledge of neuroscience helped Sheldon with his work in physics, which ultimately won the two of them a Nobel Prize."

"Dr. Emily Sweeney, M.D., is a supporting (formerly major) character in The Big Bang Theory. She is a dermatologist who found Rajesh Koothrappali through his dating site and contacted him. Rajesh Koothrappali replied through Amy. Emily is a redhead with a quirky sense of humor and likes horror movies and other gory things. She has three tattoos including a Sally rag doll from the Disney movie "The Nightmare before Christmas."

Note to narrator: Hypatia is pronounced high-PAY-shah, not high-PAT-ee-ah

Not relatable at first, but stuck with it....

I was put off by the mooning over teachers and generalizations made at the beginning, but reminded myself of the time this occurred and I pushed on. Glad I did. It did get better. And though my experience as a Gen X female in engineering is different, there are still many similarities.

A troubling tale for sure.

While I agree the lack of women in the STEM fields is troubling increasing the numbers needs to start at home. I say this after raising four children, two of which were girls and while neither of them currently work in a STEM field was not due to their parents discouraging it. The boys club is no longer needed and the only way to change that is courageous leadership not only in acedemics but business as well. Rasing girls in a sheltered manner in order to save them from themselves is not the right answer either I wish I had an answer as to how to change it but alas I do not, only to say we must empower girls throughout their nuturing years and make sure they understand they can do or be whatever they wish.

Full of Smug Complaining

Too much smug complaining. Smartly written, but repetitive. I had to stop half way through; and I worked in a field where I was the only woman in the room!

Anecdotal crap

A woman who didn't do what she wanted and now blames everyone else except herself.

An Excuse for an Autobiography

"A bracingly honest exploration of why there are still so few women in the hard sciences, mathematics, engineering, and computer science," this is not. The prologue, last chapter, and epilogue are the only parts of the book that reference anyone's experience - especially that represented by quantitative data, like surveys - besides the author's. That makes up - and I figured this out because I was curious - literally 16.5% of the book. The Only Woman in the Room comes across as the author's excuse to write an autobiography, because the relevant parts of the text could more compellingly make a well written essay. This is not a book I would recommend unless one is referencing the specific chapters mentioned and it is one that I will be returning.

Nope

this books conclusions are driven almost completely from her perception of what men think, of why something happens. spoiler alert its men and societies fault. obviously.

I particularly like how this book aims to change perception and dedicates a whole chapter to her having a crush on her teacher. derides sexism yet is sexist to men. aim to change perception and then describes everyone's appearance.

wow