The Only Woman in the Room PDF

The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science Is Still a Boys’ Club Hardcover – September 15, 2015
Author: Visit ‘s Eileen Pollack Page ID: 0807046574

Review

“Hard-hitting, difficult to read, and impossible to put down.” 
—Kirkus Reviews

“Honest, readable, and brave.”
—Library Journal

“Offering an engrossing look at the barriers still facing women in science…Pollack draws attention to this important and vexing problem with a personal narrative, beautifully written and full of important insights on the changes needed to make those barriers crumble…Any young woman or man on the way to college to major in science will find great lessons in this book.”
—Washington Post

“Her memoir rings authentic, its lessons essential. A bitter pill to swallow but a vital addition to the important and frustratingly ongoing discussion about gender equity.”
—Poornima Apte, Booklist

“The Only Woman in the Room is absolutely brilliant—even a sleeping pill and head cold couldn’t stop me from reading it through the night.  Pollack’s story reveals so much—I want to give it to my children, my husband, my older sister (a biologist), and every physicist I know, perhaps with key passages underlined. And especially, young women in science: read this book!”
—Meg Urry, President of the American Astronomical Society, and former chair of the Department of Physics at Yale University

“With excruciating candor Eileen Pollack details how society’s relentless message that girls lack the intrinsic aptitude for high-level math and physics leaves young women without the confidence to stay the course in the brutally competitive environment of high-powered science. This is a riveting, insider’s-account of how unconscious biases make a mockery of meritocracy, why women’s equality remains elusive, and why Larry Summers was so wrong.”
—Nancy Hopkins, Amgen Inc. Professor of Biology (emerita), Massachusetts Institute of Technology

“In Eileen Pollack’s vivid description of the issues facing women in science, I immediately saw the truth of what I have lived. Pollack is convincing in showing how the obstacles for women in the U.S. are erected by our culture. In the 1960’s my mother had to put up with exclusionary rules that kept her out of a career in science. You would think things might have gotten better for my generation, and for the current generation. But they have not. Eileen Pollack courageously and honestly examines her own life and shows us why.”
—Carol Greider, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and Daniel Nathans Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Johns Hopkins University

“My remarks on women and science generated much heat—if they helped stimulate Eileen Pollack’s introspections and reflections, they shed light as well. I certainly understand many aspects of the issue better for reading Pollack’s work. We all want great opportunities for all, and as she demonstrates, the world has a long way to go.”
—Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus, Harvard University, and former Secretary of the Treasury

About the Author

Eileen Pollack is the author of the novels Breaking and Entering (a New York Times Editor’s Choice selection) and Paradise, New York, as well as two collections of short fiction, an award-winning book of nonfiction, and two creative-nonfiction textbooks. Her work has appeared in Best American Essays and Best American Short Stories. She is a professor on the faculty of the Helen Zell MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Michigan. She divides her time between Manhattan and Ann Arbor, Michigan.

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Hardcover: 288 pagesPublisher: Beacon Press (September 15, 2015)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 0807046574ISBN-13: 978-0807046579 Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1 x 9.3 inches Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Best Sellers Rank: #6,375 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #10 in Books > Science & Math > Science for Kids #47 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Gender Studies #50 in Books > Science & Math > History & Philosophy
Two hundred some pages into this mixed memoir and study of the reasons why so few women students continue in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, Pollack cites a 2012 study by researchers at Yale who sent out comparable but not identical resumes, half under the name of John and half under the name of Jennifer, with letters of recommendation and supporting material, to 127 faculty members in physics, chemistry and biology at six major research institutions in the United States . The faculty members were asked to rate “John” or “Jennifer” on a sliding scale as to their estimate of the candidate’s competence, hireability and likeability and their perceived willingness to mentor him or her if he or she was struggling. On every scale except “likeability,” the “male” candidate significantly outscored the “female,” even though the CVs and supporting materials were equivalent. The professors were asked to suggest a salary range they would be willing to offer their candidate. “John” was offered an average starting salary of $30,238; Jennifer $26,508.

When Pollack reported on this study on a website, one writer, a scientist, wrote back that the results didn’t show gender bias but rather the scientists’ “objective” knowledge that women are, on the average, less able than men. This response, Pollack notes, is a textbook definition of bias: a decision made on gut feeling, or a few anecdotal examples, taking no notice of individual differences. Pollack writes that sentiments like this discourage promising women students from sticking it out in STEM fields.
This book stated on the back cover: “A bracingly honest exploration of why there are still so few women in the hard sciences, mathematics, engineering and computer science.” However what I found instead was a partial biography of Eileen Pollack’s education filling half of the book. I say partial as it essential stops telling her story when she receives a Marshall Fellowship and then jumps forward 32 years to find that she ditched it, is married, divorced and now teaches English. What happened in that undiscussed time, the author doesn’t share, but I can only assume, it was a crash and burn as she was exhibiting signs of an eating disorder, drinking too much and panic attacks. Ivy league schools are stressful. Sometimes our body tells us when something doesn’t work.

I’m struggling with an unbiased review of this book, because I have an opinion of my own, so take that into consideration. While I think the author experienced some of the issues common for woman pursuing a scientific or technical degree, some are unique to her experiences.

The author struck me as an intelligent and privileged young woman that growing up in small town upstate NY felt her interest in science was not well handled in High School. Given I had a similar experiences I agree, that back then most women were pushed into teaching and rarely were science or engineering considered an option.

Though it seems she was offered a full ride to MIT, she insisted on Yale costing her parents the full price of her education. Lucky for her they could afford that. After being sneered at by her upper crust classmates she returns the favor by providing this same snub to that of another student of “working class” parents.

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