We are taught that good science requires detachment. But what if being a mother — with all the attachments that entails — allows you to explore different but equally fruitful scientific narratives?
Expeditions can be hard to maneuver as a mother and a scientist. Sometimes I am forced to choose science over the family's immediate comfort. As a result, their feet are extra tough. They can sleep without pillows. They have learned it's OK to feel hungry. These inconveniences have taught my family simple things, such as to own their mistakes. Instead of the passive voice, "the lunch was forgotten," they now say, "I forgot to pack the lunch." My family has learned that it is good to set goals, as it is in science, but also to accept that they can constantly change. Five years ago, when our family hiked Mount Kinabalu, which, at over 13,000 feet, is the highest mountain in Borneo and Malaysia, my son was just 10. We slept in a high-altitude hut, leaving for the summit at 3 a.m. Two hours into the dark hike, the altitude sickness began. My husband stayed with my son in a small shack on the side of the mountain, while my 12-year-old daughter and I summited the thin ice sheets covering the mountain peak. What my daughter, but also my son, witnessed was a woman leading while the man stayed behind. My husband has been adamant that we fight stereotypes. Not just because they force us out of entrenched roles, but also because women often see the world differently: Even the architecture of female brains changes after pregnancy. As I write in my guest essay for Times Opinion, science needs our voices and narratives. When we made it back from the summit, my daughter said she felt both tired and strong. I would summarize being a female scientist in the same way. It is harder now to bring them into the field. Their high school doesn't want me taking them out of classes "just" to map the world's underground fungal networks. But they are with me in spirit. When I had the opportunity to sample fungi under one of the oldest trees on Earth, in Chile, the ranger asked us scientists to remove our shoes. As I hammered the metal core into the ground and imagined the world below, I realized I was thinking of my kids' tough, tiny bare feet and all the ground we have covered together.
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Saturday, April 27, 2024
Opinion Today: How a simple act of defiance can improve science for women
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