Is science a man’s world?

Generally speaking, the trajectory of a scientific career is adapted to the male model – it does not anticipate the emergence of “difficulties” related to family responsibilities – it is not flexible enough. Having and raising children, as statistics show, causes “falling out” of the research world of many promising female researchers. There is also a lack of support tools for female scientists on maternity or parental leave and mothers returning to research work. It is not without reason that statistics clearly show that the scientific career of women is gaining momentum after 40 years of age.

The level of gender imbalance goes hand in hand with the field of science: the greatest disparities can be observed in engineering and technology sciences (STEM), and in natural sciences, with a relative balance in medicine and agricultural sciences, while women’s predominance is visible in social and human sciences (European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, She figures 2018, Publications Office, 2019, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2777/936)

If we consider the presence of women in managerial positions in academic scientific institutions and in decision-making bodies, we can observe the same problem – in the case of Poland it is generally a dozen or so percent of women-members of those bodies. (European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, She figures 2021, Publications Office, 2021, https://projects.research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/en/knowledge-publications-tools-and-data/interactive-reports/she-figures-2021#chapter3; 12 men and 2 women in the presidium of The Council of Scientific Excellence that defines quality standards of scientific activity required to obtain academic degrees: https://www.rdn.gov.pl/prezydium.html; 8 men and 5 women in the presidium of The Polish Accreditation Committee which is responsible for evaluation of quality and standards of higher education: https://pka.edu.pl/o-pka/struktura-organizacyjna/ )

Add to this the still dominant gender stereotypes and existing discriminatory attitudes and we gain a general picture of the situation of female researchers, not only in Poland but in many other countries of the world. 

We have asked female researchers participating in the POLONEZ BIS Program to share their views and experience on the situation of women in science. Is this an environment favorable for a professional career for women? 

Dr. Jade Bejeot does not have any experience of unequal treatment in her career but in general terms in Italy women have difficulty reconciling scientific career with a family. This is partly due to the pressures coming from the research context which is very competitive, and to the fact that having children is logistically difficult because there is a lack of policies to support working mothers. As a result, many researchers give up having children altogether, have them very late or abandon their scientific careers. She can not say whether the situation is better in Poland. In recent years a lot of progress has been made at the European level but that we still have a long way to go.

Our next fellow, Dr. Nezihe Uzun observes underrepresentation of women in her field of research (physical mathematics). She has admitted, however, that the number of women has been increasing for the last few decades.

When asked about the situation of women in science in general, she shared her belief that this is a complex problem and it can not be solved within the scientific environment only. For example, one can ask the same question for women in art, women in business or women in politics. In Dr. Uzun’s opinion it will take time to change the conception of the society on gender based roles in general. On a higher note, she can see more programs for women who had to take a career break and want to return to their field. There are also more just, equally shared parental leaves these days. The situation will get better, with the inclusion of governmental level interventions.

Although Dr. Uzun has never experienced any unequal treatment in her career,  some of her colleagues went through ugly experiences. “The last few years have taught us that discussing these topics openly is the way to create awareness and eventually find a solution” – says POLONEZ BIS Fellow.