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Advice neededSTEM student seeking career advice
So I'm on track to graduate in a little over a year. Before I transferred to a four-year university, most of my professors and classmates were women, and I miss the atmosphere of labs and classes that were all women. I really want to work in a women's only lab, at least once I get a year or two of experience under my belt if not immediately after graduation. Is this an unrealistic expectation? Are there any organizations you guys know of regarding women in STEM that might be able to help?
You didn't specify whether you are planning to go to grad school or go work for a company or government lab. But I think the answer would be similar either way...
I'm the PI of an academic biology lab in the US, and I too prefer working with women, ever since I was a young grad student. I also think a mostly-female workspace is beneficial to the younger women training in my lab.
Nevertheless, I would advise you to adjust your expectations and prepare yourself for a career where you will have to collaborate with men at least sometimes, possibly frequently. In academia at least, your scientific interests and expertise need to match the lab you are applying to join. Depending on how specialized your interests are, there may not be a ton of options for labs to work with, and the odds of finding a female-only lab that is also a good fit scientifically are slim. Even if you do find one, it may not last long because turnover can be high and the PI can & will hire a dude if he is the best candidate for the job. Also, there are a ton of other factors like location, pay, benefits, etc. that are very important and might outweigh the team demographics.
Your best bet is to seek out a lab where the culture is as "female" as possible, regardless of the actual personnel. Some labs have a "macho", competitive atmosphere even if lots of women work there; others have a collaborative, communicative, positive atmosphere even if a lot of men work there. The PI often sets the tone for the lab culture so seek out a PI who shares your values.
Thanks! I'm looking for internships at the moment since many of the ones I applied to last year were cancelled due to covid. I'm not ruling anything out based on gender ratio but I wanted to know how realistic it would be to even find any all-female labs. I've also been in labs where I got along with the men great but my female lab partners drove me nuts so I know that it isn't the most important factor. I did some research and found there's an organization at my university for women in STEM so I'm going to see if they have any events happening soon.
I've completed a PhD in chemistry in the UK and I'm now doing a postdoc, but I've mostly been in male-dominated labs!
There are certainly lots of women-in-STEM organisations you could join, but at least in Britain, creating female-only environments is not really the goal. In my view the goal should be to allow everyone to do the best science with the best people in an environment where nobody is disadvantaged based on their sex or background. In practice this means good maternity benefits, sensible working hours and a collaborative rather than competitive lab culture.
You could certainly seek out a female line manager or PI, and some companies or subject areas are more female dominated, but you should make sure the lab the right fit for you based on more than just female:male ratio. Especially since this can change over time anyway.