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Asked by lumiereclair to Sabina, Mark, Matthew, Mike, Paul on 7 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by sawyerbean.
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Sabina Hatch answered on 7 Mar 2014:
I feel that I need to take extra care answering this question, because I both want to be completely honest but at the same time not put you off.
Unfortunately, in the majority of engineering and science fields there is a bias against females employed in senior roles. At my stage, as a post-doc researcher it is possibly the hardest time to be female. This is because women are competing with men for positions at universities (as well as in industry/tech companies). Even if I prove myself to be equal or better than my male counter-parts at interviews, there is a stigma associated with women because they can become pregnant during this time. If this happens the project is delayed or it is not completed. As a result only 5% of our department is female, 2 out of 40 university staff.
However, help is at hand! The Royal Society and Women in Science as well as many other institutes recognise that this needs to be changed. We desperately need more women in science! We are equal to men in both our intelligence and capability to carry out research and studies have shown that we approach problems in a different way compared to men.
These institutes provide funding specifically for women to research their fields. This really helps but unfortunately there is only a limited amount of money they have to provide support.My advice is to believe in yourself and go for it! There is a lot of support out there for women to pursue a career in science so nothing should stand in your way if this is what you choose to do.
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Matthew Malek answered on 18 Mar 2014:
I had an interesting chat about this with Sabina over lunch on Friday. It was good, because I have my own opinions and make my own observations… but as a man, my perspective (including what I actually see) is different.
Looking at the numbers, there has been a gender balance in quite a few fields of science and maths. I understand that biology, for instance, is basically 50/50 between women and men. Mathematicians, as well, seem to be about equally split. That’s good!
The Light Zone is populated by physicists, and in my own field, there is definitely not gender parity. When I started my PhD studies, about fifteen years ago, it seemed like we were about 10% female. Over the years, I think that number has crept up slightly, and is now between 15 – 20%. (It’s hard to get a precise value, because when numbers are low, you are susceptible to statistical fluctuations) Anyway, that’s an improvement, but there is still far to go.
In my own observations, once a woman has reached the level of her PhD studies, there is not a more difficult career path ahead of her than there is for men. It’s getting to that point that is challenging — by the time of undergrad or post-grad studies, there are already far fewer women than men in physics.
This leads me to believe that there is something in the way that physics is taught at the secondary school level (or earlier??) that puts off many women, relative to men. I don’t think it’s something that puts women off from science, as there are other fields (like biology, and I think chemistry) where the gender gap is much smaller, or non-existant. That said, I really don’t know what might be happening at the secondary school level to cause this effect. Maybe some of YOU could answer that for me?
I will finish by saying that I only have my own perspective and obervations to go by on this, and those of a female physicist — like Sabina — are probably more valuable for this question. Thanks for asking, though! 😀
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Paul Coxon answered on 18 Mar 2014:
Sadly is harder for women to get a career in science. There are lots of reasons for this which is a shame, because some of our best scientists have been women: Marie Curie (discovered 2 new elements), Lise Meitner (discovered nuclear fission), Rosalind Franklin (did the crucial work that let us discover the structure of DNA).
Often in many fields people say physics and chemistry are more suited to men’s brains than women’s because men think in a more logical way while women are more ’emotional’. This is completely untrue and has been utterly disproved. There are no significant brain differences between men or women.
One barrier to women having careers in science is often, in the years following a PhD, when postdoc researchers are forging out research and making breakthroughs is often the time when people are expected to marry and have a family.
Unfortunately, doing postdoc research often means moving to different universities or even different countries each time you start a new project which isn’t so easy with a baby. This causes many talented women to give up on science.
However, I’m not trying to put you off! Over recent years things have definitely improved and changed for the better – many organizations have been set up to encourage girls to take up science and pursue a career in it. See the links below:
http://sciencegrrl.co.uk/
http://stemettes.org/Also, you may like to know that the heads of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Royal Academy of Engineering (the UK’s most prestigious organizations representing chemists and engineers) are both women scientists! 🙂
Comments
lumiereclair commented on :
Thank-you for answering my question Sabina. I’m glad that there are many institutes trying to help get more women into scientific careers!