• Question: Do you feel that by being a female scientist, you or your work is discriminated in any way?

    Asked by Joe to Rebecca, Laura, Francesca on 8 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Laura Schofield

      Laura Schofield answered on 8 Nov 2014:

      Hi Joe. When I first started Uni I didn’t really notice any difference in numbers of boys and girls on my course. However, when I started a PhD I was only one of 2 girls in a research group of 18 people so it did start to feel a little strange. I wouldn’t say I’ve ever felt discriminated against, but a few years ago there was a definite swing to get more girls into chemistry and now there are more girls than boys in my group.
      I think I am very lucky that I seem to have come into science at the right time. We have several lecturers at Uni who are in their late 30s, early 40s who say it was very different when they were at Uni. It seems to be a lot more accessible to girls now and I don’t think any of my findings or results have been overlooked because of my gender.

    • Photo: Francesca Palombo

      Francesca Palombo answered on 8 Nov 2014:

      Not as far as I have experienced – hope it does not happen to any female scientists

    • Photo: Rebecca Ingle

      Rebecca Ingle answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      This is a tough question as I’m definitely aware of cases where this has happened and you do wonder what is happening when in the entire chemistry department of my university, there are only three female professors.

      For my undergraduate degree, it was 50:50 girls and boys but now I’m doing a PhD I’m in a similar situation to Laura, where I’m one of only 4 girls in a very large research group. Physical chemistry, which is the field my work falls into, is very male-dominated as a subject.

      However, things are definitely changing and changing quickly. I personally haven’t really experienced any discrimination, my research group is generally incredibly supportive as is my supervisor. I suspect it depends a lot on where you study, but things are definitely improving and there are definitely many successful female professors out there.

Comments