Invisible women

Last Wednesday, I had to give a talk at the annual convention of the Philippine Pediatrics Society. My talk was part of a session called “Dr. Perla Santos Ocampo Memorial Lectures,” which included a tribute to her.

“PSO,” as Dr. Santos-Ocampo was called by people who worked with her, died last year leaving many legacies as a pediatrician, professor, and administrator (she was chancellor of the University of the Philippines Manila, which includes the medical and nursing colleges as well as other institutes to train health professionals). Foremost, she was a scientist, recognized worldwide especially for her work on diarrheal diseases that kill hundreds of thousands of children each year.

It was during the tribute to this woman of distinction that I suddenly remembered a request from Dr. Aura Matias to publicize the TOWNS (The Outstanding Women in National Service) awards. PSO was among the first batch of women who received these awards back in 1975. Aura, much (much) younger than PSO but with many achievements, noted a tendency in people to wait till the last minute to nominate candidates, but even then, the final number of nominations is usually quite small.

I promised to publicize the awards, then decided that I’d do a whole column, but kept delaying because I wanted to think of a proper angle. The tribute to PSO finally gave me the idea for a column about invisible women. To the hundreds of pediatricians gathered that morning at the Philippine International Convention Center, PSO is well-known and revered, but outside of pediatrics and medicine, she is not known enough. She is one of many invisible women of distinction.

In the Philippines and many other countries, the most visible women are movie and TV actresses. It wouldn’t be so bad if their popularity hinged on the quality of their performance, but we know it all boils down to show biz in terms of manufactured images, with women still having to live up to expected stereotypes: sexy, seductive and, most importantly, young.

Hidden stories, lives

When it comes to gender bias in recognition, it gets serious with scientists. Only in recent years have there been efforts to dig up stories, sometimes suppressed, of women behind scientific discoveries and milestones. (Log on to the website of Eastern Illinois University, eib.edu, and search for “Biographies of Women in Science.”)

To give just one example, the Nobel Prize was awarded to James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins for their unraveling of DNA, the building blocks of our genes. Rosalind Franklin, a chemist, was not included in the award despite the fact that it was her X-ray photographs that provided a “eureka” moment for Watson on what DNA’s structure could be like.

Last month the UP Center for Women’s Studies sponsored a symposium on “Women in the Sciences” with two main speakers—Dr. Carol Sobritchea, an anthropologist, and Dr. Lourdes Cruz, a biochemist. One of Carol’s early research projects was to study the situation of urban poor women, with her mentors, mostly men but including women, telling her to emphasize the resilience of these women. But what Carol saw was more disturbing, of “pagtitiis” (bearing pain and sorrow) stretched to the limits in the face of constant abuse from men, on top of poverty. Her male mentors could not, did not want to, see this.

Writing about gender as part of social science is common today, but in Carol’s early years as an anthropologist, it was controversial. She was lucky her mentors came to understand what she was doing. She was also able to move up the ranks and is now dean of the Asian Center.

Dr. Cruz is best known for her work in poisonous marine snails, from which she was able to isolate chemicals now used in a painkiller, and as a marker for studies probing brain function. Even as a graduate student, she realized that her male colleagues had the luxury of going off after work to drink together and continue to discuss their work. Women researchers, on the other hand, after a long day of work doing all kinds of chores (male-assigned, I suspect), would have to rush home to attend to the family’s needs.

I listened with sympathy, having gone through reverse discrimination. I’ve gotten to the point of begging my students, with a tinge of resentment, to please understand people who have heavy domestic responsibilities, such as single fathers who don’t rely on  yayas  or women relatives. What I’ve come to resent is the way students (and faculty) wait to “ambush” me after a long day of administrative work and teaching, oblivious to the fact that I have children (and elderly parents) waiting at home.

National academicians, scientists

So, I can understand why many women scientists become invisible. Apart from their male superiors taking the credit for their work, they also have less time to write research papers and have these published. In the academic world there’s a well-known axiom: Publish or perish. And, unfortunately, for women (and a few men) who have to actively raise families, “perish” is a very real threat.

Now, even those who do publish may not be recognized as quickly. Dr. Cruz showed statistics for the Philippines, with many women graduating from the sciences, including getting their master’s and PhD degrees.

Yet the percentages of women drop drastically in the National Research Council of the Philippines, where membership is by invitation. The percentages drop once more with the National Academy of Science and Technology, where membership is even more difficult, requiring a majority vote of members. The percentage of women increases with the highest distinction of National Scientists but this, Dr. Cruz said, is because women live longer. Smiling, she added: “Especially if they’re single.”

It’s time to recognize that women who are parents or caregivers may also have fresh perspectives for science. It’s not surprising that the field of ecology and environmental protection traces its roots to Ellen Swallow Richards, an industrial chemist who, in 1895, first proposed the word “ecology” which, she said, should incorporate “consumer nutrition” and “environmental education.” Consumer nutrition eventually became part of a more female-oriented home economics, while environmental education expanded into the ecological sciences.

A final point: If women are invisible, it’s because they’re not as good at self-promotion as men. Last year a group in the United States organized a “Wikithon,” a campaign to check Wikipedia biographical entries and to add more women scientists. The work also includes expanding the existing biographies of women, which tend to be short.

Closer to home, do your part to make women achievers more visible. Don’t wait till the deadline of June 30 to nominate for the TOWNS, which is not just for scientists but also for achievers in all fields: business, government, the performing arts. Previous awardees include Leticia Shahani, Cheche Lazaro, Lea Salonga.

And remember, if you don’t nominate this year, you’ll have to wait another three years for the next round. Get your nomination forms from the TOWNS secretariat at the National Engineering Center in UP Diliman. Call 9261516, fax 9224714, or e-mail towns.2013awards@gmail.com.

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E-mail: mtan@inquirer.com.ph