Quarterdeck 2.1
By Maria Celia Villac
[34K] The Department
of Oceanography at Texas A&M University (TAMU) initiated activity in the
Fall of 1949. Although graduate programs at TAMU have always been open to
women, no female undergraduates were admitted to the university until 1963.
The department's strength lay primarily in physical oceanography until the
late 1950s but now the biological, chemical, and geological/geophysical
sections strongly represent oceanography as well. To understand trends in
graduate student-body composition a survey of data retrieved from 109 files
of students who enrolled and graduated between Fall of 1980 and 1993 was
carried out.* The survey compiled information concerning 70% of students
who graduated during the 13-year period and compared it to the that of the
98 current students. Since 1980 the diversity of the department with regard
to proportions of women and international students increased considerably.
The striking feature of this survey, while not surprising, is that the male:female ratio has always been greatly skewed toward a male-dominated student body (7:3). A comparison of the present status of women students with the thirteen-year trend shows that some aspects of male:female ratios remained the same, while others shifted markedly. Women have always been best represented in the biological section, seconded by the chemical section, whereas the physical section shows the poorest records in this regard. Women's contribution in the geological/geophysical section increased throughout the period in question. An increase in international students relative to United States citizens since 1990 plays a key role in the trends found. Except in the physical section, American male and female students currently enjoy equal representation in TAMU oceanography, with biology and geology/geophysics actually including larger proportions of American women than men. On the other hand, men constitute the majority of international students in each section. The biological and chemical sections again include greater proportions of international women than the geological/geophysical and physical sections.
In a recent issue of Science (vol. 263, 1994) Marcia Barinaga addressed aspects of women in science from a cross-cultural perspective, and identified many inaccurracies in stereotypes about the treatment of women in different cultures. Interestingly the status of women in the Department of Oceanography at TAMU mirrors, or is influenced by, their status throughout the United States and other countries. Some of the most industrialized countries employ the smallest percentages of women in physics, perhaps because the establishment of science and technology in those nations preceded women's entrance into the labor market. Indeed, at TAMU the majority of international students enrolled in the physical and geological/geophysical sections are males from industrialized countries. The relative increase in American females in geological/geophysical oceanography section as a sign of change in the status of women could be misleading due to the decreased absolute number of students in that section overall. The larger proportions of women in TAMU's biological and chemical oceanography sections reflect a worldwide trend of greater opportunity for women in these areas. According to Barinaga a higher number of women in some scientific fields does not necessarily translate into equal rights for women, but instead may reflect low esteem for academia in the job market. Higher social regard for women in science will truly have taken place only when they are no longer concentrated at the bottom of established hierarchies, but rise to the top ranks. *Barbara Childers and Dodie Guffy were instrumental in the search for this information.
Oceanography, Texas A&M
University
rshatto@ocean.tamu.edu
URL=http://oceanography.tamu.edu/Quarterdeck/QD2.1/Villac/villac.html
Updated July 20, 1995