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California-Based Scripps Research Institute Brings Gender Gap to Florida

Posted on: Monday, 9 February 2004, 06:00 CST

Feb. 8--Growing up a tomboy, Sandra Schmid honed a competitive drive that has served her well, both in the biology laboratory and on the soccer field, where she coaches her 12-year-old daughter's league championship team, Chaos.

That love for the game, along with years of rigorous schooling and long hours conducting experiments, have propelled Schmid on a rapid rise in a profession that continues to be dominated by men.

Not only is Schmid one of the world's leading authorities on how human cells take in nutrients, at 45 she is the only woman to head one of the seven science departments at The Scripps Research Institute.

Still, Schmid said, "There is a bias in the culture of science. We need a more proactive mentoring of young women so they'll know how hard it is to have a career in science and a balanced life."

As the California-based science center prepares to expand to Florida with a taxpayer-funded laboratory in Palm Beach County, the gender gap at the top levels of scientific research continues to be what a national study released last month called "a grave national problem."

"In most sciences disciplines, qualified female candidates exist, but they are not being hired," found the study, conducted by chemistry professor Donna J. Nelson at the University of Oklahoma and funded by grants from the Ford and Guggenheim foundations.

Scripps was not among the 50 elite institutions surveyed. But, according to Scripps work force statistics, and from the atmosphere at Scripps as described by female staff members, the study's findings are applicable.

"We may even be worse here in terms of women in high-ranking positions," said Erica Ollmann Saphire, an assistant professor of immunology. "There are no women on the faculty in chemistry."

According to general figures provided by Scripps, men outnumber women 3-to-1 as managers, while women dominate the clerical staff 10-to-1.

Dr. Richard A. Lerner, Scripps president and a professor of chemistry, is aware that women are underrepresented on the staff.

And he said he was looking for a female candidate to join Scripps' all-male board of scientific governors.

Of the 16 board members, 10 have won Nobel Prizes. Only 10 women have won Nobels in the sciences since the prize was established in 1901. Marie Curie won twice, for physics in 1903 and chemistry in 1911.

But despite the formation last year of a group called Network for Women in Science within Scripps' San Diego labs, Lerner admitted being unfamiliar with some gender bias issues that have galvanized women in science.

"I don't see women, I don't see minorities, I just see experiments," Lerner said. "It never enters my head."

When asked about the common practice at Scripps of scheduling small group meetings in the evening -- which Schmid, for example, said can pose hardships for women with child-care responsibilities -- Lerner responded, "I never thought about that, but it's worth pointing out, and maybe we'll change it."

More than 30 years after the feminist revolution that helped raise the national consciousness on women's issues, "The Ol' Boys Club is alive and well in academia," said National Organization for Women president Kim Gandy at a news conference last month called to discuss the University of Oklahoma study.

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(c) 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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