hi,

am just wondering how well you work with your supervisors. am female and i had two male supervisors. whilst we seemed to work well together - they didn't push me too much, i didn't feel they were as involved in my work as they should have been. i am now choosing other supervisors and am about to chose a female supervisor and a male supervisor. most of my friends say i shouldn't a female supervisor coz she'll drive me to the edge. what's your experience of working with same sex supervisors?

My director of studies (i.e. main supervisor) was female, she was (and still is!) great! She understood the soothing properties of alcohol and chocolate on a stressed-out student, what more can you ask for?!

jojo, no offense but it is almost like asking "Whether lipstick is more red, or apple is rounder". I have far too many supervisors. 1 of them is woman. They all are good supervisors. They all have different personalities.

DanB, is one of them your director of studies, or do you have a seperate director of studies? (just a curiosity, I don't usually get to speak to people who has almost as many supervisors as I do)

I suppose it's better to have too many than just one. 2 of my friends (one is on her final year) who are undertaking their PhDs at different Universities are losing their supervisors. Both of their supervisors are going to other Universities and they are now being forced to find supervisors within their Institutions in a very short time, because they're not allowed to get external supervisors.

thanks for that Ann. anybody else had views on this?

sorry 404 and Dan B, i don't get the logic of that "Whether lipstick is more red, or apple is rounder" statement and how it applies to the question i asked.

just to clarify things here, am not suggesting male supervisors are better and female supervisors are crap - which is why my question is directed at relations with SAME SEX SUPERVISORS. My feeling so far is that with a female supervisor (if you are female) you run a risk of having the 'power' struggle - where the supervisor's critique is more directed to you as a person - according to my fellow student's experience, whilst on the other hand, a female supervisor could be more understanding - according to Ann. i've got no issues with male supervisors professionally they - to me - are easier to work with. My male colleagues on the other hand, with whom we shared supervisors - did not have a good relationship with the supervisor and often, the supervisors claimed not to have time for them. when it came to the rest of us, they had time for us. so...that's why am apprehensive about picking a female supervisor.

I have four supervisors (2 at University, 2 industrial). I don't see my industrial supervisors that much, but my 2 University supervisors are male and female. I get on with both of them equally well, though to a certain extent I guess I'm quite lucky!

Their personalities and experience as a supervisor probably outweigh any potential bias due to sex etc

To clarify (or confuse!) things, I also had 2 male supervisors who were equally supportive. Although I can only comment on my own experience, I think that a good supervisor should remember what it's like to be a research student, have adequate time to supervise, know how to advise constructively and to be encouraging and (last but by no means least!) have a good idea of what is required for a PhD thesis. Gender isn't (or shouldn't be) a factor. However, it obviously helps a great deal if you and your supervisor get along. My comment about the alcohol and chocs was an example of my experience of female supervision. It was great have a mentor who went beyond what was required of a supervisor and who I felt also looked out for me as a friend. However, most people have colleagues and friends of both genders so I don't think this is exclusive to same sex supervision (as I mentioned, my male supervisors were also very supportive).

Your friends who have said that a female supervisor 'will drive you to the edge'? I'm curious as to why they think a female supervisor will be different to a male?

jojo, what I meant was that yours is a completely irrelevant question. If you ask the wrong questions, you will never find a supervisor that you will get along. I hate to sound horrible but It's my opinion.

Our head of department has a problem with women; he introduced two final year PhD students at a conference as "big tits and small tits"; when he employed a female PhD student last year he said: "If she is as intelligent as she is pretty, we're laughing, if not then at least we've got something to look at" ... at lab meetings he's knows to always stare at one particulate PhD student (well, not into her face, that is), although his wife is also present.
My own female supervisor prefers to work with men, with whom she gets on a lot better. As a woman in science she's been fighting all her career against male networking, and now she just can't stop fighting anymore, not even with us. She's uncaring about the problems of woman with children, which I find especially bad, as she was a single parent herself.

OMG @ anongerman!

OMG @ anongerman too.

Surely he would get "done" for sexual discrimination. Calling those two women big t*** and small t*** could surely be considered sexual harrasment as is the staring.

Errr, that was the point, he's staring into midspace, i.e. below the face, above the table.

Ah, ... he's just kind of generally staring at one particular PhD student, and not at the person presenting the data. Probably to make the presenter feel more at ease. Luckily, she turned out to be as intelligent as pretty.