The SpotOn conference focused my thoughts on parenthood and
trying to juggle a career, which has to be one of the main reasons for the lack
of women in science as you scale the career ladder. It’s the same in any field, I've had many a
discussion with non-scientist friends on the difficulties of balancing career
& parenthood (not always women!). I actually think that
I am very lucky to have a flexible career where I can work part time flexible
working hours & flexible location – one of the benefits of an academic
career. By contrast, a close friend also has two little girls, her
employers won’t let her work less than a 4 day week, and she has to commute
into London by train. She is only
allowed to take a limited small number of days off to look after her girls when
they are ill, which is difficult in the early days when they are beset by bug
after bug. So I feel lucky.
The downside is that an academic job is not limited 9-5,
there is a limitless amount of work to do to keep up in academia, so it’s the norm,
and it’s expected to put in a lot of extra hours. As a working parent this makes keeping up
with your colleagues really difficult, especially in the early days of
parenthood with bugs galore, sleepless nights, and just plain exhaustion. And when you don’t have ‘tenure’ in American
speak, you are trying to compete against fellow scientists who don’t have those
constraints & can put in a lot more hours. Personally, I really feel
this. I could work full time, but I want
to see my girls grow up and be involved in their lives especially in these
pre-school years, so I choose to work part time. So my choice, my hit? This choice does make me feel like I am
drowning in my academic career, struggling to balance data analysis & paper
writing with writing grants to provide me with my next post-doc. Plus all the other commitments – all the
European project meetings, associated reports, etc. (why are European projects so bureaucratic?), other reports, paper reviews, helping students, etc. etc. (blogs?!). At times I have reached
near rock bottom and wondered if this career I’d worked so hard to get was
worth fighting so hard for. I continuously consider giving up on my fight for
my academic career. I suspect I am not
alone. This must be one the most
significant contributing factors into the lack of women in science at higher
levels. In the end for me, my love of
science is winning out so far, and everyone says it does get easier as the kids
get older.
However, things are getting easier for women in academia. I have been very lucky in my choice of ‘bosses’.
In my first post-doc, I worked with a
female academic with kids. She was incredibly supportive when 6 months into my
post-doc I moved to the other end of the country when my husband got a
lectureship (she let me work remotely).
And she was also very supportive when a year later I went off on
maternity leave! Women like her, who are
successful academics having juggled a family, are an inspiration to women like
me – she makes me feel like it’s possible.
We need women high up in academia (and science) to inspire us and make
us think that it is possible to be a successful woman & parent.
My current boss is not female, but is a parent, and an
advocate of the Athena Swan charter. The
University of Exeter is a member of the Athena Swan charter which is in place
to advance the representation of women in science, engineering and technology.
To encourage this, my new boss (& hence the university) are keen to
support part-time flexible working – I work 3 days a week, and since I live a 2
hour commute from the campus work flexibly between home and the campus. This makes a huge difference – of course it’s
still a struggle to get all the work done I need to to progress my career, but
a flexible working environment and a supportive boss and university makes it
actually possible to consider staying in academia.
Of course what is really needed for women in any career is a
change in law and culture – the ability for both men and women to share
maternity and paternity leave, the ability for both parents to work flexible part
time hours, so that it is possible to share the ‘burden’ of childcare.
(and as a side, could academics work a bit less hard please?
I don’t want to spend every spare hour I’m not with the kids working or feel like I have to sacrifice family time so I can keep my career on track. Moan over - now back to the grind ;) I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't a passion!)
...coming soon:' Equality? Applying for jobs while pregnant'
