Oldal 89 [89]
WOMEN IN THE SCIENTIFIC ELITE
MULTIPLE TYPES OF FEMALE IDENTITY AMONG FEMALE SCHOLARS
1st group: the “dual attachment” type
The first group is formed from female scholars who have a fundamentally
traditional approach when it comes to the role of a woman within a family.
The group characteristics described in GIM with regards to women preferring
traditional female roles, i.e. supporting the gender status quo in many aspects‘?
can be considered true for this group. They do not differentiate between men
and women, however, when it comes to career and the academic field. They are
thus in favour of equality and progressive in this latter aspect. This is exactly
why they consider academic or leadership roles important. The interviewees
within this group accept — and believe — the fact that women need to work
much harder if they intend to achieve the same level of respect their male peers
achieve, primarily due to them having an opinion that women “must” deal with
the majority of household tasks, which they consider completely natural:
Women must obviously deal with most of the work around the house. As it happens
to be in my life, I need to serve the needs of ten men at the moment [...], my hus¬
band, my three sons and my six grandsons. Had I not learned to work tirelessly in
my childhood, I would certainly be in a difficult position right now. (Subject no. 10,
DSc, technical sciences)
So I practically think my bringing the child to the nursery is an integral part of the
regular womanly tasks. (Subject no. 23, natural sciences)
It doesn’t matter from the perspective of oeuvre if one is at home for a year or so. I
intended to savour it in fact. I always held the mothership role in high regard and
found it important. The scientific career |...] is important of course, but it isn’t the
most important facet of one’s life. (Subject no. 27, social sciences)
They have also stressed that while the support of the family is important to
them, they still consider that if a women stumbles upon issues due to the ad¬
ditional workload stemming from the female role, it is not for the Academy to
deal with them, and positive discrimination is far from being the appropriate
method either. These difficulties need to be handled in the earliest stages of a
career, especially because nobody will be interested past a certain point in
what way and through what sacrifices one achieved the academic DSc degree
or an academic position.
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Becker-Wagner: Doing Gender Differently.
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