A couple of days ago, Dr. Isis got this email from her favorite cheese weasel remixing
scientist, Toaster Sunshine.
Cheese_Weasel_Scientist_Remix_Rough_Draft.mp3
Dear Dr. Dearest and Shiniest of Awesome Physiologists,
I come seeking 2 distinct pieces of advice that have nothing to do with each other, but which may each be greatly helped by judicious application of your wisdom.
1) Overtime
I have recently been putting in 60+ hour work weeks into science, sometimes in all-night science binges. Is it wrong for me to ask for overtime compensation or is this against the prevailing ethos of science? My boss, sometimes seen around the blogosphere as [tsk tsk, little muffin. Don't share people's pseudonyms with me, the queen of the pseudonym] has told me that she believes I should get due compensation for my time, but I don't want to push this point as I wish to be seen more as a scientist and less as a technician.2) Diversity
I have recently been involved in starting a local hackerspace. This may sound insidious, but it isn't (we've got a separate organization for those things), the point is more to create a physical space where anyone can come to transform their ideas into reality even if they don't know anything about it, to learn or teach based on their passions, and to make a community of supportive creativity. The only caveat is that no one may make weapons. So far this has involved getting together a bunch of benches, tools, and whiteboard wallpaper and meeting to take apart broken appliances to be made into new ones. Project ideas include everything from hugging robots to mashed potato ballistics and bacon kites to drum suits. I see this space as a way to get science out of the laboratory and into the hands of curious people and as an exercise in ultimate interdisciplinarianism; I'm even teaching a class on Basic Molecular Biology next Wednesday (there'll be a streaming URL). And although all of this is awesome and I've learned a crapload about electronics that I didn't know before, we are faced with the possible problem of becoming just another white doodz space.My brotherfriend Bilal recently toured hackerspaces around the country and found that most all of them are made up entirely of white doodz making technology and machines. The other ones I have visited confirm this. But diversity in our constituency ain't gonna happen if all we do is talk about it. So we have. And the most common solution that is offered to getting more women interested in what we're doing is to make more noise about arts and crafts.
I don't like this.
Arts and crafts are fine and dandy, for Toaster can sew well enough to tailor his own clothes, but I am uncomfortable with the assumption that being artier-craftier will necessarily result in more women coming into the hackerspace and making things. This is far too simple and linear. Women are every bit as capable and brilliant with technology and science, whether building robots or submarine blimps, but so far the mechanism to connect with them has been lacking. I don't want to make any male-privilege assumptions in trying to reach out and help increase diversity, so I ask you: what is your advice? How can we connect with the techy women?
With humble thanks and profuse gratitude,
ToasterP.S. - Should you decide to blog this, please redact my boss's pseudonym as I'm not sure how comfortable she is with exposure, even pseudonymously, in the blogosphere and the knowledge that she's my boss could easily lead many people to figuring out who both of us are. Also, whatever happened to the Cheese Weasel Underpants remix? I think we need a remix of that into a Youtube video to replace rick-rolling with cheese-weaseled in the sciencey blogosphere.
Whew! This is a hell of a letter! Let's get to it, shall we?
My dearest Dr. Sunshine, if you are an employee who is paid hourly and you are consistently putting in more hours than you are being paid for, there is nothing wrong with asking for either overtime or for your load to be lightened. For me, working 500+ hours of overtime per week doesn't make me see a person as more of a "scientist." That makes you more likely to completely lose your junk and go off the wackaloon in the lab.
There are people in our lab group who are salaried employees (ie, we own those bitches), who work 25% effort, 60% effort, and 75% effort, depending on what is going on in their lives. To me, what defines one as more of a scientist than a technician is their ability to think critically about a problem and contribute intellectually to the research. If you want to be seen this way, and you aren't already, then you need to start making an independent effort to become more of an expert in your lab's problem and making contributions to the experimental design and data analysis.
Now, you've said that your boss, whose identity I totally don't know, is receptive to the idea of not abusing her staff. My hat's off to her for that. Why not approach her, tell her everything you've got going on, and then ask her how she wants you to allocate time between projects? It may be that she's willing to pay the overtime. It may be that she gets you some help, that she helps you work more efficiently, or it may be that she reprioritizes the projects. Those seem to be the most reasonable options to me.
Now, where do we get more women?
First, I have to commend Toaster for recognizing the lack of diversity in his group and for being aware that women could be equally capable of participating. You see, I think it is, in part, our nature to form groups with people who look like us and to have preconceived notions about what a particular member of the group should look like. The fact that you recognize that there is value in someone who does not necessarily look like a Toaster is important.
I don't mean to trivialize your question, but answering this question is infinitely easier than trying to figure out how to make a hostile environment friendly to women and minorities. I think that it takes the building of a critical mass of women or minorities until it becomes sustainable. One doesn't seem to be enough for women or minorities to be able to see themselves as part of the organization. You need a number, but organizations are typically more successful when they are more diverse.
So, what do you do? Why don't you ask one of your female friends to join you? I know Toaster Sunshine is all about teh ladiez. Why not mention to your fellow group members that they should be more conscious about inviting women? Hopefully, what you'll find is that once your group begins to make the effort, all the other l337 h4ck3rz d00ds will realize what a great idea it is and follow suit. And that will be teh r0xx0rz!
Figure 2: Hey! Look! That hacker chick is totally hot!
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Life Science
Comments
@Toaster...just sayin'....I would totally be into joining the hackerz group. Sorry that I don't actually live anywhere near you (or maybe I do?!?!?).
Posted by: ElectroFizzz | October 21, 2009 9:54 PM
@Toaster.
I second the "your group sounds awesome" feeling. Too bad I'm in the comfort of anonymity for the time being... maybe you could send a list of a bunch of groups in the USA?
Posted by: HennaHonu | October 21, 2009 10:38 PM
Global List of Hackerspaces
Different hackerspaces have different focuses. Some of them are tech-oriented while others are more open to art and performance. Bucketworks in Milwaukee and Pumping Station One in Chicago were both very open with regard to what people could do or make within them, while i3 in Detroit is a bit more tech-focused. I am involved in building one of these spaces in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I intend to build amplifier gloves tomorrow.
Dr. Isis, thanks for your advice. I'll bring this up to the fellow Makers at our build night/party tomorrow.
Posted by: Toaster | October 22, 2009 12:06 AM
How to increase diversity of a homogeneous group is a thorny problem. Me, I'm male and I find myself around a sewing machine no problem (making stuff is fun regardless of the medium). I'm the one at home doing repairs, sowing pillowcases, a bedspread and so on, as well as doing some stuff for myself (a flash diffuser for instance).
With that said, I would feel intensely uncomfortable with joining a mostly female sewing group. No rational reason; but just the thought of showing up makes me feel like an intruder, like I'd be committing a serious social offence.
And that maladaptive group identification is, I bet, really the crux more often than not: a misapplication of deep-seated social rules on who we are and who we belong with. How to fix it? No idea.
Posted by: Janne | October 22, 2009 2:35 AM
Just a brief comment about the overtime question.
I'm assuming Toaster lives in the US. I also live in the US, and have had similar situations at my job in the past. I did a little bit of research to learn more about comp time and overtime policies. IANAL, but here's the upshot:
1. If you are an hourly worker, you are legally entitled to overtime pay (time and a half) for any hours you work above 40 per week. (In some situations, overtime pay is also activated for working at certain times or on weekends, but I'm not sure of the exact rules on that.) Positions that fall into this category are often called "non-exempt" positions, because they are not exempt from the federal law requiring overtime (whose name I cannot remember at the moment).
2. If you are NOT an hourly worker--i.e., you do not get paid less if you work fewer than 40 hours per week (even in theory) if there is no work for you to do, then you are not legally entitled to overtime. And, in fact, your employer may not be able to pay you overtime or give you other compensation without jeopardizing your "exempt" status. Basically, if they pay you for overtime, it means that they are treating you as a non-exempt worker. And that means that, in the unlikely event that there is ever NOT 40 hours of work for you to do in a week, they are not obligated to pay you for 40 hours of work.
This is what I found out. I work for a private business, so things might be different for public universities--I'm not sure.
I guess my main point is, it's probably a good idea to make sure that any overtime compensation your boss offers you is actually legal for him/her to offer. Otherwise you could end up shooting yourself in the foot.
Posted by: Dr. Kate | October 22, 2009 6:21 AM
more on the overtime issue: Compensation depends on context. A job in industry is different than an academic position (I've had both); and in both, compensation changes as you climb the ladder.
In industry, if you're carrrying out other people's plans, you should get compensation in line with meeting or exceeding your goals, set by your manager. You should have clear agreement in January on what those goals are, and your employment contract should spell out what the bonus structure is. If you're making the plans, and supervising the execution, then your compensation depends on a more global view: the plans should support the company's goals, you should manage quality, time, and budget, etc... Usually at this level compensation combines personal performance and corporate performance. Again, there should be a clear path between actions and compensation. At the CEO level, compensation is related to how many friends are on the corporate board, without link to performance.
In an academic setting, compensation is again linked to performance. At non-tenured positions, compensation comes in the form of titles and larger offices. At the higher levels, the more productive you are the more committees you get rewarded with.
Posted by: David | October 22, 2009 8:07 AM
"At the higher levels, the more productive you are the more committees you get rewarded with."
Second prize: two promotions!
I wanna hackerspace now. Alas, none nearby.
Posted by: becca | October 22, 2009 1:06 PM
Compensation is a tricky issue. I'm a tech, hourly and "classified" staff at a MRU. (I also do a whole raft of experiments because my boss thinks that everyone should do "science", regardless of aptitude.) Because of how my position is defined, I am an hourly worker who is required to belong to the union, but I am not allowed to get *any* overtime compensation, either money or time.
Since my boss is a huge fan of procedures that take 10, 12 and 15 hours, this is a bit of an issue. Right now I'm just supposed to take time off to make up for long days, but I imagine a less kind boss might tell you to suck it up.
Toaster, I'm glad your boss is interested in giving you overtime, and if you can take her up on it, do!
Posted by: JustaTech | October 22, 2009 2:44 PM
"The RRRF doesn’t have many girls. But as V/Z points out, they’ve already got most of the self-replication equipment."
-- taken from http://www.rrrf.org/2008/12/24/rrrf-meeting-minutes-for-dec-19th-2008/
Unfortunately it's mindsets like these that drive the ladies away from hackerspaces...
Posted by: wolf | October 22, 2009 6:31 PM
What, the ladies don't like jokes?
Toaster, my friend, there are no gals in your hackerspace because the ladis don't like hacking. You want to meet girls, go dancing.
Posted by: Misogynist F. Asshat | October 23, 2009 3:43 PM
You may wish to cogitate on exactly why crafts are appealing to women in this culture (and many others) before rejecting them wholesale in your hacker space.
See also: Shop Class as Soulcraft
http://www.amazon.com/Shop-Class-Soulcraft-Inquiry-Value/dp/1594202230
I would point out that many crafts traditionally pursued by women are oriented towards something that can be used by many family members, or that make the life of the whole family better. (hats, cookies, blankets, etc.)
So, if you want to appeal to women who are traditionally tasked with the majority of the child care/housework/maternal urges then perhaps you can contemplate some hacks that contribute to the entire family.
Personally, if you know one that lets you build a cell-phone signal amplifier, I'd be all over that puppy!
Posted by: Courtney | October 24, 2009 10:10 PM
Gee, folks, if there's no nearby hackerspace, start one! (but check the hackerspaces.org list to be sure.)
I don't think a tech focus is a problem for most women. Calling it a tech focus is. For whatever reason, the majority of women (in my experience, anyway) don't immediately see the value in such a space, but they do warm up to it pretty quickly once they've spent an evening hanging out, talking, and playing with the tools. It just takes longer for the possibilities to emerge.
For this reason, arts and crafts events are useful. Find a bunch of people who're already making things, and bring them into a space to do something they already do, and they'll start to realize that they can make other things.
Posted by: Myself | October 29, 2009 11:28 AM