• Question: Has being a woman ever set you back or made you question wether or not you could get to where you are now?

    Asked by anon-227017 to Georgia, Emily, Aimee on 12 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Georgia Orton

      Georgia Orton answered on 12 Nov 2019:

      This is a really interesting thing to ask about. So far I don’t think being a woman has been a disadvantage so far for me personally, but I do know women (not just scientists) who have experienced sexism which has driven them to leave their jobs etc. In academia (research at universities) the number of women decreases at each career step (there are very few female professors). I think this is partly due to women not getting exactly the same opportunities as men (although this is improving) and some things disproportionately affecting women (many men do not get much parental leave for example).

      Ultimately, for science to progress we need all the best scientific minds. These brains will belong to all groups of people, irrespective of their gender, skin colour, orientation etc. Thankfully we are slowly progressing to make the academic workplace more welcoming to everyone.

    • Photo: Aimee Egglestone

      Aimee Egglestone answered on 12 Nov 2019:

      It hasn’t set me back so far (aside from the odd sexist comment) and it has never made me wonder if I would succeed.

      However, there is no denying that the higher up you look in a company the fewer women you see. This is put down to a number of factors which largely come back to motherhood being inconvenient for businesses, however this is being addressed I feel as more and more companies are being forced to offer “Parental” leave which is more even between fathers and mothers. Hopefully if we all continue to make to clear to the scientific community as a whole that sexism is just not acceptable in 2019 we can continue to improve and maybe even do it at a better rate!

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