Every time I feel the need to whine about teaching and research in the humanities, I simply click on over to the science blogs authored by women. And then I feel much, much better about my field.

See, while women have flooded the gates of the humanities over the past 50 years or so, the sciences have been considerably less welcoming of women. While there are notable exceptions, such as primatology and botany, most disciplines have all kinds of barriers that keep the participation of women low or render it invisible.

Here's a round-up of the past month's news:

Dr. Free-Ride shares an episode from "the snakepit" of academic science: MIT Professor Susumu Tonegawa's communication with faculty candidate Alla Karpova, an exchange that ended with MIT losing out on hiring Karpova.

Propter doc responds to letters sent to Nature in response to its article on Ben Barres, a scientist and a man who used to be a woman. The Barres case has highlighted the way that a woman in science--one with the exact same capabilities and interests as one of her male peers--is subject to a different set of assumptions about and standards for her work. Propter doc writes,

If the problem of ‘women in science’ is defined as women not being prepared to battle away in the current system, then it is not affirmative action that it needed, it is the system that needs to be changed. There is really no need for aggression in science, and in general, women are less equipped to deal with an aggressive environment and peers.

In "Truth, Justice, and the Academic Way," another post related to the Barres case, Yami at Green Gabbro raises what I believe to be some excellent points, including these:

A scientific conversation about sex differences is (ideally) neutral, but it is difficult, if not impossible, to have a neutral scientific conversation in the midst of a heated political argument. I don’t see many neutral conversations on gendered brains; I see people* taking a perfectly good conversation about sexism, and transforming it into a conversation about sex differences, and that is not a neutral act. At the very least, it says “I don’t think your conversation about sexism is as important as my ideas about our spicy gendered brains� or “I am too stupid to recognize that a claim about the existence of discrimination is not a claim about the nonexistence of biology�; sometimes it says “stop talking about sexism, it’s all because of neurology, we do not need to seek social or political change�. Always it contains an implicit claim about the merits (and the lack thereof) of the pre-hijack discussion.

Ms.PhD at YoungFemaleScientist writes that she is the only woman where she works at her stage of her career. As a result, she feels isolated. Her options are not pretty:

I've run out of people to talk to where I work. The few women who have similar interests are younger than me and naively competitive (and a bit arrogant, which I try to ignore); the older ones are burned out and bitter (not that I can think of any of those- I may be one foot in that category, but we don't have a support group on campus).

The men who should be my 'peers' either view me as threatening, or want to 'collaborate' with me in ways that make it clear that they would steal my stuff if they saw even the slightest opening (needless to say I need collaborators badly enough that I'll take what I can get and just sleep with one eye open).

Female Science Professor wonders about when to be nice, to keep her mouth shut, or to let the sarcasm fly. What would you do in this situation she describes?

One thing I've struggled with is whether it is OK to be silent in the face of some amazingly blatant discriminatory remarks or situations. My first reaction would be to say No! but then there's real life. Example: I was a participant in a federal panel involving the sciences, and, on the first day, a senior male scientist expressed his opinion that we women were just there to fill a quota for diversity and this was too bad because it deprived the committee of people with 'expertise'. There were some extremely accomplished women on that panel, but no one responded to this statement. I thought "We'll show you..."

Click on over to her blog to see what happened. While there, be sure to also check out her posts "Gender matters" and "Most Qualified".

Jane of See Jane Compute continues to blog about her hostile work environment.

Dr. Shellie explains why she blogs:

In my "real" life, I increasingly find myself in a position to give my opinion on issues surrounding women and science. This scares me. For as much as I have thought about the matter, I am never sure what it is safe to say. Suppose that you were in a room with three senior, white male professors in your field, ones who were variously former presidents of your professional society, chairs of your department, and members of the National Academy. Would you really want to describe to them how many of the women you know in science have problems with lack of confidence? Or describe how the drop in women’s fertility at age 35 makes it almost impossible to wait until after tenure to have a baby? Inevitably, the question follows: "So, is that a problem for you?" Say "yes," and you are taking a big risk, hoping that they will not interpret what are really systemic problems as something that is wrong with you and your commitment to science– possibly impacting upon your career.

I am using this blog to work out what I am willing to say, to whom, and how. While I write under a pseudonym, the opinions I express in my posts often come up later in real conversation. Having worked out already what I believe, it is much easier to take a stand– and it turns out that most of my opinions aren’t terribly controversial after all.

Joolya of Naked Under My Lab Coat tells us why she is glad to be in biology:

My program is about 50% women. Women run more of the seminars and activities than men do. All in all, I have found my program to be welcoming, friendly, and supportive. I think there is something to be said for strength in numbers. The "default" grad student here is not male, in my experience. There will soon be enough of us bio-chicas that when woman-unfriendly shit starts to go down, our collective eyes will crinkle and we will be like, "uh, NO!"

Skookumchick of Rants of a Feminist Engineer explains why hers is not a "women in science" blog and provides us with a clear introduction to her area of interest: feminist science and technology studies. In this post, she also provides a nice rundown of the injustices experienced by women scientists who blog.

Zuska elaborates on her desire to puke on Fermilab's shoes. She also urges women to boycott Fermilab.

Finally, would any round-up be complete without referencing another round-up? I bow to ScienceWoman's savvy in her collection of the latest women-in-science news.

A personal note: my apologies to avid Research, Academia, and Education readers for my recent infrequency of posting. I was finishing up my dissertation, and sometimes dissertating has to take priority over blogging. :) Thanks for your patience, and I'll now return to my normal posting schedule.

Leslie Madsen-Brooks blogs at The Clutter Museum and Museum Blogging.