Challenging the Leaky Pipeline in
Science, Engineering and Technology
Dr. Ita Richardson
www.festa-europa.eu
FP7-SCIENCE-IN-SOCIETY-2011-1,
Project No. 287526.
Slide 1
Importance of having Women in SET
European and National Agenda
“We need to address these issues, not
only for the sake of fairness and
equality, but for the sake of science
and research itself – we need to build
our research capacity in Europe.”
Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research,
Innovation and Science.
Slide 2
2
Importance of having Women in SET
•
•
•
•
•
Diversity
Economic Growth
Social Justice
Provision of Role Models
Provision of Choice
Photographs: Eoin Stephenson, UL
Slide 3
3
Diversity
Diversity promotes creativity and innovation
Do we want to continue living in a world
built by men for men?
Slide 4
4
Economic Growth
Dependent on having an educated workforce
Can we afford to eliminate 50% of the population
from SET?
Slide
5
5
Importance of having Women in SET
“The Grand Challenges facing Europe (including climate
change and demography) require the full participation of
women in its science and technology system…”
European Commission, 2012
Slide 6
6
Challenges for Women in SET
Lise Meitner, Nuclear Physicist, Germany, c.
1900:
Professor Emil Fischer “did not allow women
in his building”. Meitner worked there,
“Provided she stay in a converted carpenter’s
shop in the basement and never enter any
part of the building used by men”
Sharon Bertsch McGrayne, 1998
Slide 7
7
Challenges for Women in SET
“I very much wish to be considered together
with Madame Curie with respect to our
research on radioactive bodies.”
Pierre Curie, 1903, when he heard of his Nobel
Prize for Physics nomination with Henri
Becquerel, but without his wife, Marie Curie,
Physicist and Chemist, Poland and France
Slide
8
8
Challenges for Women in SET
Barbara McClintoch, Geneticist, USA,
1936: Mistaking Barbara for someone
who had recently announced her
engagement, her Dean “threatened her,
‘If you get married, you’ll be fired’”
Sharon Bertsch McGrayne, 1998
Slide 9
9
Challenges for Women in SET
Someone else was made first author on a paper
“because he was a young man and had a family to
support.”
Christiane Nusslein-Volhard, early 1970s, Germany.
Slide 10
10
Challenges for Women in SET
Astronomy classes in the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh,
same percentage of women in 1982 and 892.
“Womenfolk play the larger part in the decision. It has
been my experience that it is other women who ask (too
frequently) whether one really enjoys doing physics.”
Jocelyn Bell Burnell, 1982, Belfast.
Slide 11
11
Challenges continue: Gender Audit @ UL
• No institutional barriers to one’s career development at
university level.
• Women spent more time generally during the week and
weekends on domestic chores than male counterparts.
• Women in the University appeared to take on more
work than their male colleagues. Examples given
included the development of new courses and student
support.
Wilson & Richardson, 2008
Slide 12
12
Gender Audit Results
% Female
% Male
Keynote /plenary/invited
Research
speaker external
36
conference/workshop
63
Editor of scientific/technical
journal or book
17
28
Member of the Editorial Board
of an Academic Journal
15
32
Reviewer for International
Journal
44
78
Assessor for grant giving bodies
22
55
Appointment to
National/international bodies
24
42
Slide 13
Slide 14
14
Current Situation
Slide 15
15
Why women leave academia
• Women more negatively affected by men regarding ‘string
of post-doc positions’
• Concerns about competitiveness are fuelled by a relative
lack of self-confidence
• Nature of available role models
•
•
Perceived by female PhD candidates as aggressive and
competitive (male characteristics)
Often childless
• Women are told that their gender ‘will work against them’
UK Resource Centre for Women /
Royal Society of Chemistry, 2012
Slide 16
16
• Retain and fully employ the competencies and capacities
of the whole research force, regardless of gender
• Women do not lack researchers’ essential characteristics
• Academic environment is lacking essential
characteristics to foster women’s research potential
• UL Principal Investigator – Prof. Pat O’Connor
Slide 17
17
FESTA: Building
on Previous
Initiatives
Role Models for
School Girls
Introductory
Courses for
Women in SET
Equality
Opportunities
Manager
Gender Audit
@UL (Science
Foundation
Ireland)
Slide 18
18
• Led by University of Uppsala, Sweden
• University of Limerick - Faculty of Science &
Engineering
• Universities in Denmark, Turkey, Germany, Italy,
Bulgaria
• March 1st 2012 to 28th February 2017
Slide 19
19
Analyse UL and
other
Universities
• Qualitative Research Methods: Interviews and Focus
Analyse
Develop
Implement
and
Groups
Recommendations
Measure
Published
•Recommendations
Research Questions: Research
from outcomes
•
•
•
•
•
Can we raise awareness regarding career paths?
How are formal and informal decisions made?
How is excellence defined?
What power-plays exist in PhD supervision? (UL not researching)
Can we understand resistance? (UL not researching)
Slide 20
20
Analyse UL and
other
Universities
• Implementing changes in the
working environment of academic
researchers
Analyse
Implement
and
Measure
Published
•Recommendations
Encouraging SET female
researchers
Research
to make a career in academia
• Remove some of the hurdles which
makes this difficult for them
Develop
Recommendations
from outcomes
Slide 21
21
Analyse UL and
other
Human Resource
Universities
Implement and
Measure
Recommendations
•
involvement
• Implementation in Faculty of
Science and Engineering
• Results from
other UniversitiesDevelop
Analyse
Recommendations
Publishedin UL
implemented
from outcomes
Research
• Results from UL implemented in
other Universities
Slide 22
22
We as a University have to change!
It is not women who are lacking essential characteristics
for being good researchers, but it is the academic
environment that is lacking essential characteristics for
fostering the research potential of women
Management
Faculty
and Women themselves
Slide 23
23
Current Situation
50/50
Thank you!
Slide 24
24
Acknowledgements
University of Limerick team members: Prof. Pat O’Connor, Principal Investigator, FESTA, Dr. Ita
Richardson, Principal Investigator , Lero, Tommy Foy, Director of Human Resources, Marie Connolly,
HR Shared Transition Services Manager, Alison O’Regan , Learning, Development and Equal
Opportunities Officer, Caroline Neylon, HR Officer, Research, Clare O’Hagan, Research Fellow, FESTA
FESTA has received funding from the European Union, Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/20072013, under grant agreement No. 287526
Colleagues in Lero – the Irish Software Engineering Research Centre and the second year B.Sc. In
Digital Media and Design students
Slide 25
25
References
European Commission, Structural change in research institutions,
Enhancing excellence, gender equality and efficiency in research and
innovation, 2012.
Wilson, D., and I. Richardson, SFI Development Grant Report, 2008.
UK Resource Centre for Women / Royal Society of Chemistry, The
Chemistry PhD: the impact on women’s retention, 2012.
Bertsch McGrayne, S., Nobel Prize Women in Science, 1998.
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