Figure 10.-Injecting a chicken egg with typhus rickettsia for the prep aration of typhus vaccine. 3-32 THE OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN BACTERIOLOGY Bacteriology, a specialty which has developed in the field of biology within the past 60 years, has attracted a large number of women. The 592 women bacteriologists registered with the National Roster of Scientific and Specialized Personnel at the end of 1946 were 22 percent of the total group (30). Those who specialize in bacteriology usually approach it from one of the following avenues: basic courses in chemistry or such biological sciences as botany or zoology; agricultural science; home economics and nutrition; or premedical or medical training. A Ph. D. in bacteriology is sometimes combined with an M. D., and it is not unusual to find physicians working in the bacteriological field. The fact that the biological sciences have attracted relatively more women than have the physical sciences, plus the kinship of bacteriology with home economics, especially nutrition, may explain the unusually high proportion of women. Prewar Distribution In 1939 there were about 4,000 bacteriologists in the United States, according to the National Roster of Scientific and Specialized Personnel. They worked in a variety of places: State, local, and Federal public health laboratories; hospitals, clinics, dispensaries, and medical research laboratories; colleges and universities; agricultural research and experiment stations; plants manufacturing drugs, serums, antiseptics, disinfectants, and fungicides; dairies and other food products plants; and distilleries, breweries, and other fermentation industries (35). For the most part, however, they were concentrated in the larger metropolitan areas throughout the country, primarily where medical centers and factories are located (16). The bacteriologist may specialize in a particular field, such as agricultural, industrial, veterinary, medical, or public health bacteriology; or in a particular type of research or analysis, such as immunology (concerned with responses in man or animals to specific infections or biological agents), serology (the study of body fluids especially in relation to immunity), virology (deals with ultramicroscopic organisms known as viruses, which often cause disease), or medical mycology (the science of pathogenic fungi) (26). Mycology, which is also considered a branch of botany, is discussed on pages 3-13 and 3–14. Women bacteriologists, even before the war, were employed in a variety of jobs in many types of establishments, although medical laboratories were by far the most common outlet. Many of these women did routine laboratory work, preparing cultures and making analyses. The Ph. D.'s among them were engaged chiefly in research or teaching, and a few were in charge of research projects and production units, usually in industries manufacturing biological and chemical products or preparing food products. In 1940 almost 45 percent of the 325 employed men and women who had been granted a Ph. D. in bacteriology in the preceding decade were engaged in research; nearly 29 percent were teaching; and about 18 percent combined teaching and research (12). Although some of the women Ph. D.'s in bacteriology obtained good positions in bacteriological work before the war because of the demand for trained persons, one university in the Midwest reported that it was difficult to place all of those with undergraduate degrees in jobs requiring bacteriological specialization. Usually, however, they found laboratory jobs of some sort, frequently in chemical analysis, if they had had enough chemistry. In industry, women bacteriologists were found primarily in the laboratories of plants manufacturing foods, food products, or biological products. Comparatively few were in the dairy industry, where heavy work is sometimes involved. Nine of the 78 industrial firms visited by the Women's Bureau in 1945-46 that had research laboratories in which technically trained women were employed in some capacity, had employed women bacteriologists before the war either on control or research work. In the additional 18 commercial testing laboratories visited, none of the women employed were bacteriologists. Approximately 100 women bacteriologists were employed in the Federal Government just before the war. This is an estimate based on the fact that only 130 women were employed in the Federal Government as agronomists, horticulturists, botanists, and bacteriologists, at the end of 1938, according to a Women's Bureau study (41), and later statistics indicate that women agronomists, horticulturists, and botanists were relatively few. Apparently the supply was greater than the demand before the war. Although 220 women and 301 men passed the 1940 Federal Civil Service examination for Junior Professional Assistant with option in bacteriology, only one woman and three men were appointed to probationary or permanent positions from this list in the year ending June 30, 1940 (23). There were almost no calls for bacteriologists, according to the Medical Division of the United States Civil Service Commission, except from the Food and Drug Administration, which then employed men, principally because they were used not only in the laboratory but also on field inspection and surveys which sometimes may involve difficult physical conditions. A few calls a year were received from the United States Public Health Service, where women as well as men were placed. Annual Addition to the Supply There are no available statistics on the number of persons who received first degrees in bacteriology before the war, although, according to the United States Office of Education, 2,632 men and 1,997 women received bachelor's degrees in all the biological sciences, including bacteriology, in the academic year 1941-42 (43). Very few doctorates have ever been awarded in bacteriology to men or to women. The largest number granted was 71 in 1941 (11). In the entire prewar decade they totaled only 355 (12). Only 10 of the 30 colleges and universities from which the Women's Bureau obtained statistics on women majors in science granted degrees in bacteriology, and the number of men and women graduates who had majored in bacteriology in any 1 of them was small. Thirty-one was the largest number of men and women graduated by any 1 of these schools in any 1 year. Most of them graduated less than 10. Wartime Changes There was no marked change in the type of work done by women bacteriologists during the war, and although there was an increase in demand, it was not comparable in volume to that which took place in such fields as chemistry, mathematics, and physics. However, there was a substantial increase in the demand of State health departments for bacteriologists, and opportunities for employment in industry were increased by the development of new drugs like penicillin and streptomycin and by the vacancies created by the loss of men bacteriologists to the armed services. Seventeen of the firms visited by the Bureau in connection with this study had women bacteriologists in their laboratories during the war, 8 more than the 9 that had employed them previously. Two of the 17 were commercial testing laboratories. The others, all manufacturing firms, represented the same industries--foods and chemicals, especially pharmaceuticals-that had employed women bacteriologists before the war, with the exception of 1 that manufactured paper products. The number of women bacteriologists in a single firm was small; the range was from 1 to 12. Often, there was only 1, and in only 1 firm were there more than 10. In these industrial laboratories women were employed at all levels of responsibility and skill. They were laboratory technicians, developmental bacteriologists, assistant and associate research bacteriologists, and heads of laboratories. The technicians' work involved standard laboratory analyses and sometimes the use of animals in testing; a knowledge of routine production methods was also required. At a higher level of skill and responsibility, the develop 772327 48 7 |