Improving gender equality in career development in STEMM disciplines

On 2 November, the EU Project TRIGGER (Transforming Institutions by Gendering Contents and Gaining Equality in Research) at Birkbeck invited an audience of professionals, academics and students to consider what we can learn from academia and the corporate sector to improve gender equality in career development in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine) disciplines. The event formed part of a series of panel discussions held across Europe over the last year to facilitate discussion on transforming gender equality in the work place and in research.

Helen Wollaston, Chief Executive of WISE (a campaign to promote women in science, technology and engineering), started the proceedings with an overview of current statistical evidence on the gender balance across the STEMM disciplines. She made clear that, despite the many positive steps to address the gender inequality in STEMM subjects, which are currently an area of significant economic investment, women still occupy just 21% of professional and academic roles in so-called core STEMM areas (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in 2016. This number is rising, with over 13,000 more women in core STEMM roles since 2015 – however, it serves to elucidate a substantial gender imbalance still persists in both professional and academic roles in STEMM. Gender continues to affect not only pay but also the kind of role and the level of employment; across professional and academic roles in all STEMM subjects, the proportion of women in supervisory or managerial positions declines to just 14%.

Initiatives that Work

The event "Improving gender equality in career development in STEMM disciplines: What can we learn from academia and the corporate sector?" provided a platform to share experiences and exchange ideas on what we can do to facilitate gender equality and support women in their career development in STEMM subjects, rather than focusing on what cannot be achieved. The panel comprised of both men and women from a range of corporate organisations and universities, from all areas of STEMM, who first introduced their very different experiences of successes of gender equality in STEMM. Maaike Van Den Branden, a Senior Insight Director at Aimia, drew on the vital importance of company culture to foster career development for both male and female staff members. She also highlighted that women within her company benefit particularly from a positive corporate attitude to flexibility in the “juggler phase” – “women need to feel confidence in their competence after a period of absence or maternity leave. Without the feeling of support or that working can add value to your life, it is difficult to come back at all. This can make the decision traumatic for the person involved and costs the company more money to fill the vacancy and provide a new staff member with the appropriate training.” Flexible and open company culture, mentoring schemes and equality committees all emerged as popular ideas to foster institutional change and support women in the development of both academic and professional careers.

The discussion generated at the event also brought back into the spotlight the stark drop in the number of girls continuing in STEMM after their GCSE examinations, once subjects become non-compulsory; 100% of girls take STEMM subjects to the age of 16 as part of a prescribed government curriculum, but this plummets to just 7% thereafter. More must be done to widen the pool of applicants from the bottom up to deal with the subsequent gender imbalance in academic and the corporate sector and to avoid the persistent mechanisms of inherent gender inequality from perpetuating themselves. To the question of how to eradicate an inequality that is both historic and persistent, the answer seemed to be to provide people with support to make informed choices at the earliest available opportunity through school outreach, partnerships and open conversation.

Making a Change

The 4 year TRIGGER initiative at part of a European consortium spanning institutions in five countries, aiming to foster organisational change through promoting the role of women in research and academia. It complements several other initiatives introduced by Birkbeck to reduce gender inequality in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine and Mathematics) subjects and managerial roles, such as ASTREA (Networking for women in professional and support roles) and Athena SWAN, and also informs the College’s Strategic Equality Review.

Events such as this form a vital part in the exchange on current gender inequalities in STEMM disciplines, to explore how successful initiatives can be implemented across a range of organisations. The TRIGGER panel event embodied this sense of commitment to gender equality; audience participation and engagement with the panel brought to light shared experiences, struggles and aspirations, and the panelists themselves had the opportunity to make good and useful contacts with one another and with people in the audience. Indeed, institutions are more likely to instigate a culture equipped to overcome inequality through the increasing vocal support from these networks, as well as through the sharing of information and statistical evidence on the importance of gender equality.

Panel:

• Dr Amanda De Mestre, Royal Veterinary College, University of London
• Dr Katherine Thompson, Birkbeck College, University of London
• Colette Henry (Chair), Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland
• Prof Alexandra Poulovassilis, Birkbeck College, University of London
• Maaike Van Den Branden, Senior Insight Director, Aimia
• Thalis Vlachos – Partner, Hine Legal
• Helen Wollaston, Chief Executive, WISE