She got into Radcliffe during an era when that was far harder than (men) getting into Harvard. She got into Yale for a PhD at a time when women were rarely taken seriously as thinkers. Even w/these credentials she struggled to get a permanent job until AFTER she won a MacArthur genius grant in 1989🫠
My mother was at Radcliffe at same time in the HRPBA, a program that was for women who were not allowed to attend HBS. The powerhouse that Radcliffe was in the 50s was something she made sure we all knew.
There are more women academics—then and now—who go through this than I realized at the start of my career. Most don’t talk about it openly because they’re ashamed they weren’t able to beat the system, even though it was rigged against them.
Some of the brightest lights I’ve known have been forced to eat shit repeatedly in their careers. And they were the “lucky” ones—in that they were able to stay in the game. Many more just got completely pushed out and we never know about them except as faceless statistics.
Interesting. I started a PhD in 1980. 'People' said it was really difficult getting 1st academic post. (Really? Compared to now?) I wasn't offered teaching opportunities. Couldn't see myself as lecturer. Couldn't see many women academics. Abandoned that PhD. 'People?' All men. [Got PhD 2009.]
Real talk: I came very close to not going up for tenure — not submitting my materials, walking away from academia entirely — because I was so attuned to the threat of being pushed out. (#MeToo, so there was a price on my head). My chair talked me down, and I’m glad she did, but the struggle is real.
And, I was not only ultimately tenured, but recruited away with tenure. Which makes me not just a woman academic, but a woman academic survivor with academic freedom, a cushy office with a view, and — on rare and special occasions — a vendetta that doubles as a research direction. Priceless.
I'm sure you lift others up too.
She’s a little younger than my Mom, who graduated from Radcliffe a few years earlier. The barriers against women having academic careers were massive in a way that people today would have trouble grasping.
I love science. Was my life's goal to get a PhD and do research. I had no choice but to eventually leave due to harassment. I've been called a failure and a quitter countless times. I'm sorry to the young women studying today that it isn't better.