In departments, minding the gender gap

W hen Harvard president Lawrence Summers suggested in 2005 that differences in the innate abilities of men and women might explain why fewer women succeed in careers in math and science, his remarks drew angry accusations of male chauvinism. The fact remains, however, that the hard sciences are largely male-dominated and that fields in the arts are often seen as feminine. Still, even the most heavily gender-stereotyped departments on campus — such as art and archaeology and mechanical and aerospace engineering — do consistently attract a minority of students of the opposite gender. Tyler Crosby '09 and Rachel Johnson '09 are two such students, and their stories shed light on what it's like being in a department with the opposite gender stereotype.

Renaissance Man: Tyler Crosby '09, Art and Archaeology

"I want to be a Renaissance man," said Crosby, a junior in the art and archaeology department. "A Renaissance man without the math."

Crosby's academic and extracurricular pursuits do indeed span many fields, but unlike his male friends, most of his interests lie in the arts. The California native originally declared himself an English major, but he recently changed his plans. Crosby now hopes to complete Program Two in the Department of Art and Archaeology, which combines the study of art history and practical training in the visual arts.

"If I can put my academic interests into something I love to do, like art, that's what I want," Crosby said. "I want to forge my own path. It just so happens I forged my way into a 'female major.'"

The art department currently has 61 juniors and seniors, 11 of whom are male.

"I do sense that it's mostly female populated," Crosby said. Still, he added, the popular perception of art history as "girly" played no part in his decision to change his major. "I only started hearing that stereotype once I got into the department. It's like a side effect for me."

Crosby's department switch was motivated by his personality as a "do-it-yourself kind of guy," he said. "I didn't want to be reading and writing things that people for hundreds of years have been reading and writing," he explained. "I want to be creative."

Crosby noted that his decision to pursue art as his main academic focus was met by surprise — and some mockery — on the part of his friends. "I'm in a frat, and I'm kind of one of the dudes," he explained. So when he changed his major, he added, "I got some heat. People would say, 'Oh, art history, are you a chick now?' "

His family, however, was more encouraging. Crosby noted that his parents have always fostered his creativity, which he has been developing for years. Since high school, Crosby has run his own clothing-design company called Oddyssea, which produces stencil-decorated shirts, hats and skateboards. An actor, Crosby is also considering pursuing a certificate in theater and dance.

Crosby acknowledged that artists are sometimes stereotyped as homosexual but said that picture is too flat. "I'm straight for sure," he said, adding that he has a girlfriend of nine months who "likes that [he's] artsy."

In the art history classroom, Crosby said, the few boys often stick together. "I definitely feel like there may be sort of a minority mindset among the guys." He added that he tries to use this situation to his advantage. "It makes it easy to be noticed by a teacher," he explained. "If you have something to say, and you're in a minority, maybe your opinion is weighted."

Crosby also said that he feels it is his duty to supply comic relief in the classroom. "If you're looking at art for three hours in a seminar you're going to need a laugh, and I think it is a male role to provide that."

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Ultimately, Crosby said his minority status in the art department makes it more appealing. "It's sort of a black sheep thing. I want to be very, very individual. I want to be an interesting person."

Rocket Scientist: Rachel Johnson '09, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

"It's weird when your hairdresser asks you what you're majoring in and you say mechanical and aerospace engineering," Johnson said. "I think if I were a guy that would be less surprising."

According to departmental representative Michael Littman, about 25 percent of the mechanical and aerospace engineering (MAE) department is female. In the Class of 2009, however, only four out of 30-odd MAE majors are female, Johnson said.

Johnson's decision to major in MAE was a logical extension of her inclination toward the sciences. She graduated from a public math and science magnet school in her home state of Massachusetts. Her parents — an auto mechanic and a computer technician — encouraged her technical interests.

Johnson's high school was split about 50-50 along gender lines; it wasn't until she officially declared her major at Princeton that she found herself in an absolute minority. Still, she was not surprised to find out that most of her classmates were male.

"People got all upset with the whole Larry Summers thing," she said. "I don't really see what he said as being a bad thing. I think it's probably kind of true. For whatever reason, men have dominated [in hard sciences]."

Though Johnson thinks the disparity may result from "a natural thing about the way our minds function," she added that "it didn't really work that way for me." Johnson explained that she never felt as though she approaches problems differently from her male classmates or as if gender creates barriers between them. "I don't really have a problem being seen as just one of the guys. I don't feel like I'm inferior to them," she said.

Johnson noted that most of her best friends in MAE are male, and that because she spends so much time with them, it's easy to keep things platonic. Johnson has a boyfriend who is studying vocal performance at Westminster Choir College. "It's funny because his major is overflowing with women," she laughed. "But it helps balance out my life and allows me to have more comfort with an almost exclusively male group of friends."

Likewise, Johnson said that her major does not affect her relationships with friends from other activities in which she is involved, such as ballroom dancing. Even events such as the annual "Mr. Engineering" contest — a talent, trivia and modeling pageant that could seem to propagate the stereotype of engineering as a man's world — don't bother her. "I don't think it's necessarily a guy's pageant by the nature of engineering but by the nature of pageants in general. It's much easier for guys to take these things less seriously and for everyone to see it as more of a joke and a good time than a real beauty contest," she explained.

Johnson also noted that just as she doesn't feel any tensions with classmates, male or female, she also doesn't think that professors give her any special treatment because she is a woman. "I've thought about it occasionally: Do my professors see me differently? But I think the department is good as a whole for not making distinctions," she said.

Johnson isn't sure, though, if she will feel so comfortable in the future. "In general in aerospace-related jobs, [being a woman] is almost a disadvantage since it's harder to be taken seriously. It doesn't make me angry as much as just a little bit worried about where I'm heading." Still, she remains optimistic. "I don't think it's going to be impossible to succeed."