Nobel Laureates on the Advancement of Women in Science
Fifty-one.
That was the percentage of young female researchers attending the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting for Physiology or Medicine, held in Germany this summer.
It was a percentage touted by conference organizers because it was the first time in the history of these meetings that the number of female graduate students, post docs and other early career scientists had surpassed that of invited male counterparts.
But 51 percent is not necessarily reflective of the ratio of women working in science.
“We have a big problem retaining women across the western world as early as year six (of school),” said Nobel Laureate Brian Schmidt.
Schmidt was part of a panel of scientists who spoke at Lindau about ways to improve conditions for women to thrive in science. There was a general agreement among the panelists that encouraging young girls in the middle school years was crucial to getting students on track to study scientific fields.
But that encouragement is needed well beyond year six.
According to Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research, women make up around 9 percent of professorships in engineering fields, and around 12 percent in mathematics and natural sciences.
And in the United States, although women now receive half the doctorates in science and engineering, they make up only 21 percent of full professors in scientific fields.
Panelist Emma Johnston, a professor, TV show host, and member of the Australian Academy of Science, said she felt isolated when during her undergraduate education she entered auditoriums reserved for physics and math classes which were full of male students. That isolation continued, Johnston says, when she became an assistant professor and was the only female faculty member among a staff of 29 in biological sciences at the University of Melbourne.
“I have sat on every selection panel… and now after ten years there are six of us,” Johnston said of the number of women who have since been hired to join her previous department.
Schmidt argued that more countries should take the charter-based approach of the UK’s Athena Swan program, one that rates academic institutions gender policies as bronze, silver or gold and ties grant funding to a benchmark score.
Beyond quotas, there were other recommendations panelists made. Nobel Laureate Elizabeth Blackburn suggested U.S. universities might adopt programs similar to one initiated by Shirley Tilghman, former president of Princeton University, that gives emergency childcare to University employees.
“Women work 80-hour weeks because they are doing 40 on top,” Blackburn said of women trying to successfully manage work and family responsibilities.
It’s at the time that women marry and start their families that a real dip occurs in the number of female candidates who are chosen for tenure-track or upper-management positions at universities, the panelists say.
To counter this situation, the panelists suggest reevaluating the criteria often used to grant tenure. Faculty members are encouraged to publish as many papers as possible but that may not be the best standard to vet a quality candidate, regardless of gender.
“When you actually look at someone and what their impact is…I always say that a really good paper has a thousand times more impact than an average paper,” Schmidt said.
Panelist Suzanne Cory, president of the Australian Academy of Science, indicated that women may consider taking part-time positions in a laboratory in order to have more time to raise a child while still maintaining a link to their research.
Whatever path women choose to follow, the speakers agreed that work-life balance is an ongoing process and to remain confident.
“When I look at my own life, at every stage, I had opportunities where I was scared stiff, but I knew I had to walk through that door,” Cory said. “You’ve got to jump into that deep end.”
by Claudia Adrien
The article was originally published July 15, 2014 at berlinSCI.com
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