Long live difference and diversity!
Europe's first woman astronaut, Claudie Haigneré, has been in Brussels as the Chair of jury charged with selecting the winner's of this year's Descartes Prize for Excellence in Scientific Research. On the eve of International Women's Day, CORDIS News took the opportunity to speak to her about the women in science, a subject about which she knows plenty. According to Haigneré, the problems that women face in science come at two crucial stages in their careers. The first is right at the beginning of their scientific career, and the second is on moving up the career ladder to decision-making positions. At the first stage, before even embarking on a scientific path, many women perceive a career in science as being too long, too difficult and too isolated for them. Haignere said: 'the image of a career in science is the outdated and archaic one of a researcher in a laboratory, working alone or in front of a computer.' 'I have often met women who didn't dare enter science because they saw the profession as too difficult and too isolated. So they choose other paths and science loses out on the talent of 50% of the world's population,' she said. 'Our grandmothers fought to open doors that were once closed to women. Now that is no longer the case. The doors are open. We have to push them open. We have to go for it. Girls get very good school and Baccalaureate results, better than boys. But they don't feel good or self confident enough to pursue long studies. So they need to regain confidence and then make their lives easier when they are in their careers,' she added The solution then would be to modernise the image of science as a career, says Haignere. 'We have to spread the real image of science. For what is science? Science is to discover. To marvel every day as science finds solutions to problems. So science is not isolated from society, it serves and benefits society,' she said. 'We have to renew enthusiasm for science.' When women do opt for a career in science, they choose the life sciences or science education because they know that there they will be integrated in a social environment. The second problem area is at the stage of promotions, where the decision-making bodies are still predominantly male, which means that women are not promoted as quickly as men. In addition, women today still take up the traditional chores of a couple, more so than men, and are also often in charge of raising children, which is a tough task to juggle alongside professional work. Referring to her own personal experience, Haignere said: 'there have been times in my career when I found it hard to balance my professional and private life. 'Women need to have their husbands, family and structures to support them so they can more easily integrate their professional career,' she continued. As for the differences between the sexes, she said: 'it is true that men and women work in different ways and women don't have to become men. They have to keep their specificity. But we do have to organise the work so it is complementary, synergetic and efficient. And I have always had the possibility to do that. Transform the ways of working because women don't have to enter a masculine mould. Women have their own qualities, their differences. But we have to work together with our differences and our diversity, together to succeed in the task at hand.' There are positive signs of change however. 'I think things are moving forward in the right direction in Europe and in France but it is a slow process. There are some female role models in high positions. So for example in France, we have women in leading positions at INRIA and the CNRS'. Now, argues Haigneré, is the time to continue the progress achieved and push it further.
Countries
France