Video: Puskas gives advice to women facing discrimination

BEACHWOOD, Ohio—Throughout her career in both industry and academia, Judit Puskas experienced firsthand the discrimination females face in the rubber industry.

Even back to university entrance exams in her homeland of Hungary, she saw how entrance standards were lowered for males because the school didn't want a majority of the chemical engineering class to be female.

There even were times she saw her husband, Gabor Kaszas, get preferential treatment over her. In a program at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, there was a position for one doctoral student to work both for the university and the chemistry institute. Puskas interviewed for the spot, along Kaszas—her boyfriend at the time—and one other male.

"There was a grueling interview, and they picked by husband," said Puskas, honored this past spring at the ACS Rubber Division spring meeting as the first female recipient of the Charles Goodyear Medal. "Ten years later, the professor who was collaborating with the University of Akron told me I was the best, but they wanted a boy."

During her career, Puskas said she and Kaszas, who retired last year from Goodyear, always worked well together, but he often got the higher salary and more raises.

"At one time (at Polysar Rubber Corp.) we had the same British boss, and the boss told my husband, 'You know, the thing I like about you is you always speak your mind.' And when the boss wanted to fire me, he said to my husband, 'You know, your wife doesn't know when to shut up.' "

She has several bits of advice for females in academia and industry. First, as Kaszas always emphasized to her, is to document every instance of discrimination. "This is very important," Puskas said. "It is your work, but you actually have it in writing. That has been very helpful."

Next is to know the rules, something she said sometimes works better in industry because strict rules often exist on such issues as termination. "Some managers don't always know the rules," Puskas said. "I was able to succeed because in some cases they didn't follow the rules."

Importance of mentors

Finding a mentor also is critical. Her husband served as a mentor throughout her career, as did numerous others in both industry and academia.

Puskas said she has served as a mentor in industry. At one point, the female employees brought to the attention of management that women were underpaid at the company. "One woman had her salary doubled because she was getting half of what others were. I consider this a success."

She hasn't always had the same success whem mentoring at the university level. One problem is that schools aren't willing to talk to the females as a group, but those having problems are expected to come in individually. Puskas saw the tactic as "divide and rule."

"I've also noticed that some female faculty members don't want to be mentored because it makes them feel weak," she said. "I've tried mentoring younger faculty members, but some of them just didn't want it. They didn't say it outright, but their behavior suggested it. They think they have to do it by themselves, so they may think they appear weak. I just don't understand why."

Puskas has had more success mentoring students and post-doctoral candidates. She said one post-doc actually came with her from Canada, even though Puskas at the time didn't have a paid position for her. So the student worked at the University of Akron for one year free of charge, and Puskas was able to get a paid post-doc position after that.

"Now she works at Bridgestone," Puskas said. "She may just have left the entire career. The attrition rate for females is still terrible, in industry as well as academia."

Males must stand up

The University of Akron professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering also has this advice for men: "You have to actively help women. A lot of men think that these problems are gone, that they don't exist anymore. Without men's help, we cannot get anywhere."

She referred to the storyline in the recent "Hidden Figures" film, where the African-American female mathematician's name was deleted from a project, something that also happened to Puskas. But astronaut John Glenn and the person portrayed by Kevin Costner stood up for her.

"Glenn could have been killed if she hadn't made the calculations," Puskas said. "We need men like that desperately."

It's been her experience that females need to have a critical mass of at least 30 percent in the industry to see real change. "If you have less than 30-percent minority in any given environment, their word is not heard," Puskas said.

That leads to such cultural issues as males first thinking of other males, even in something as simple as looking for speakers at industry events. "I'm not saying this is done on purpose," Puskas said, "but they just don't think about it. That's why I'm saying you need active help."