How They Beat the Odds
Chicana scientists share stories of overcoming obstacles to achieve professional success
DENVER
Their disciplines range from psychology to mathematics to biology, but
their stories are nearly interchangeable. Chicano women have been
making strides in academia in recent years, but much of that progress
has come while battling racial, cultural and gender prejudice. A group
of Chicano women, all high-ranking academicians, participated in a book
project to provide anecdotes about how they overcame those obstacles to
succeed at some of the foremost academic and government institutions in
the country. They also spoke of their experiences as part of the
“Chicanas in Math, Science, and Education,” panel during the annual
conference of the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native
Americans in Science (SACNAS). Obtaining an education in science and
mathematics was no small feat for women of their era, doubly so for
Chicanas.
The number of women earning degrees in the sciences has increased every
year since 1966. A National Science Foundation study shows that as
recently as 1996, only 39 percent of all women enrolled in graduate and
postdoctoral education were in the sciences. That year, 500 more
Hispanic women enrolled in science programs than in 1995. Despite their
gains, however, under-represented minorities still comprise only 11
percent of the enrollment. Of that percentage, 5 percent are Hispanic
and 0.5 percent are American Indian. Enrollment of minority women in
graduate and post-doctoral programs increased slightly between 1980 and
1996, with a 1 percent gain.
But what statistics do not tell are the struggles Chicanas had to
overcome to reach their positions. A book titled Por Sciencia, edited
by Dr. Norma E. Cantú, a professor of English at the University of
Texas at San Antonio, details these pioneering women’s paths in their
own words.
Dr. Elma González, a professor in the department of ecology and
evolutionary biology at the University of California, Los Angeles,
spoke of her childhood in migrant camps in Texas. Her parents took jobs
weeding cotton so their children could stay in school for as long as
possible throughout the year. González had a high-school guidance
counselor who encouraged her to go to college.
Dr. Maria Elena Zavala, a professor of biology at California State
University, Northridge, recalled a conversation that she had with a
teacher as a child. “You’re a Mexican, and you can read!” the teacher
said. Zavala’s mother’s response to her daughter was: “Yes, you are a
Mexican, and you are supposed to read.”
