Zi Yue's "thirty and standing" has become a standard that everyone has heard for thousands of years.
Thirty and standing, standing what? Career on track? Have a cozy little home? Chinese the thirty-year-old is nothing more than career and family.
But, at the age of thirty, what did you stand? For a female doctoral student who has just graduated at the age of nearly 30, or even 30 years old, it is a cruel torture that strikes deep inside.
01, the female doctor's "thirty only"
Marriage, primary three, and parenting are not on the topic of discussion
Although more and more women are choosing to enter the scientific research industry, the number of female students studying for doctoral degrees in engineering majors such as computer science, where male workers are the overwhelming majority, is still a minority. When almost every female student considers a doctoral degree or solicits opinions, factors such as age anxiety, gender division of labor, and family and social pressures seem to be inevitably repeatedly emphasized, becoming a stumbling block to women's pursuit of scientific research dreams.
In the Google PhD Awards scholarship application, female applicants are included in the "Underrepresented Group." This shows that female researchers are still in a weak position in terms of number, research achievements, leadership and discourse power, and another meaning is that more and more female researchers expect to get out of the anxiety and boundaries of "thirty only" and realize their dreams in the field of scientific research.
Individual experiences vary widely, and the plight of groups is of the same origin. With the continuous improvement of social status and education level, compared with their predecessors, this batch of female doctors has more different thinking about the future; in the context of more diversified personal choices, more diverse expressions of demands, and more changes in ideological awareness, they also have new answers to how to get out of the predicament.
The biggest obstacle to reading a PhD is to regulate their emotions, girls' minds are generally delicate and sensitive, and they may fall into some gray emotions for a series of setbacks.
In view of the anxiety caused by age and scientific setbacks, there are two more effective ways to solve it: one is to get a good night's sleep, and the other is to establish a cognition of time: "Time is the most limited thing." After choosing to study for a doctorate, compared with peers, the progress bar of life will inevitably lag behind. But when you understand that you're spending your time pursuing something you love, you'll be more open and confident. ”
02, to some extent
The number of female PhDs can be used as an intuitive indicator of the progress of the times
According to Inkstone, in 2016, the proportion of female doctors in China was only 39%, while the proportion of female doctors in the United States reached 52% in the same year.
Image from inkstone
According to a 2019 NSF survey, the number of female PhDs in science, engineering and health (SEH) in the United States is now more than double that of 1997. Twenty years ago, only 23 percent of SEH women were educated in the U.S., and now more than 35 percent are educated. The number of female SEH doctors in China is unknown.
Image from NSF
In fact, in real life, everyone will think about age, work, income, family, future planning and other life issues. But fortunately, in life, when communicating with people, you can receive feedback from different ages and different groups about life.
A 30-year-old female PhD, no boyfriend, no car and no house. Peers are thinking about car loans and mortgages every day, or children's interest classes. And the female doctor's daily mind is all her own experimental data, every day to consider whether the performance is stable, whether the image is in accordance with the trend, whether the data is engaged in her again, whether the tutor has pushed her, the article can be changed to now can be sent ...
But she is now very happy every day, satisfied with her current situation, and occasionally envious of the stable life of others, I don't think I will be alone for a lifetime, I just happened to have not found that specific reagent, I am now stable in nature, I am waiting, waiting for the reagent that will allow me to get higher efficiency and purer yield.
Image from Unsplash
This is the current situation of a 30-year-old female Doctor, who spent the first half of her life like a car stuck on the evening peak bridge, stop-and-go. She did not do a far-sighted, but fortunately her heart is strong enough; she does not have a happy family, but life is also full of energy and expectations; sad and happy, we are all ordinary people, there will always be pain and regret, but I will continue to go firmly, enjoy my hard-won today, and pursue my pure scientific research life.
03, before considering a doctoral study
You should be sure that you are interested in scientific research before reading
Before studying for a doctorate, you must first try to do scientific research-related work. If you have not experienced the state of scientific research before reading a doctorate, but regret it after reading it, then the cost of sacrifice is very large. There are many ways to try out a PhD, you can contact the teacher on campus who is closest to the direction you want to do, go to his laboratory practice, or try to be an independent researcher, the latter is more difficult.
Everyone's experience with the same thing is often very different, and the same is true for PhD reading. Only after you really try it can you know your truest feelings.
But before you take the first step, is the initiative in your own hands?