A Risky Statement on Gender

Before I get myself into too much trouble, I want to mention that N=2.

So I am sitting in my bioinformatics class during presentations and I am noticing an interesting phenomenon that I can't help but post about. Each student is supposed to present, but students can form teams.

Here's the result: The two girls in the group are part of a two person team. There are no two person teams with two males (of five). In the teams with a male and a female, the female begins the presentation and the male jumps in about 2 minutes into the 15 min presentation and (loudly) completes the remainder of the presentation. The female sits patiently for the balance of the presentation, but the male never hands the torch back.


My tentative conclusion, the barriers to women in science are often subtle, and are not only institutional.