In the News

If you've worked your way to the top in a University maths, physics or engineering department, you're unlikely to be a woman. The first program in the BBC Radio 4 series "Science Friction" debates why this is the case. You can listen to the programme on the BBC website.

National Network for Women in SET? The results of a survey conducted to test the demand for a national network for women in SET have now been published. To read the results visit the SETWomen website.

We are very sad to report that Dame Anne McLaren has been killed in a car crash. Anne was a distinguished scientist working in reproductive biology, developmental biology and genetics. She was also an advocate for women in science. She had three children and understood the difficulties of combining family life and a scientific career. Together with Joan Mason, she was a driving force in setting up AWiSE, served as its President for many years and remained a stalwart supporter of Cambridge AWiSE up to her death. She will be greatly missed. Her full obituary can be read here.

Matthew Symonds, in his essay Why women lose out in the lab published in the 7th July issue of New Scientist (vol 2611), believes that the under representation of women at senior academic positions is probably connected to the disparity between the rate at which men and women publish scientific papers. He also notes that the difference in productivity happens really early in their careers, probably before most scientists have their families. The full version of this report is available in the magazine and to online subscribers.

Closing the Gender Gap In the European Year of Equal Opportunities for all, women still remain under-represented in science, particularly at higher levels. Magdalene Wutte, writing in the 5th July issue of Nature (vol 448), looks at how institutions, networks and women can help correct the imbalance. In the same issue, Beyond the Glass Ceiling by Kendall Powell, looks at the implicit bias that women and minorities face in the upper ranks of academia in the United States.

Administration of Additional Paternity Leave and Pay – A Consultation. Additional Paternity Leave and Pay will enable employed fathers to take up to 26 weeks Additional Paternity Leave, some of which can be paid if the mother of the child has returned to work. This new provision will be available during the second six months of the child’s life, providing parents with more choice in child care responsibilities and for the first time ever, the option of dividing a period of paid leave entitlement between them. If you would like to comment, please visit the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform website. The closing date for comments is 3rd August 2007.

A recent report 'Hours to Suit' by the campaign group Working Families shows a strong business case for allowing flexible working. The report looks at women working in City Banks, Law firms and in senior managerial roles and shows that flexible working is a "win-win that boosts retention, recruitment, enthusiasm, loyalty and effectiveness".

'On track for a new battle of the sexes', by Melanie Newman (25th May 2007, Times Higher Education Supplement) discusses research by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen of Cambridge University. Prof. Baron-Cohen believes that "People with the male brain - and strong systemising skills - make the most excellent scientists". Jenny Koenig of Cambridge AWiSE said: "Good and successful scientists need to be able to do alot more than systemise. Scientists need to be creative, show perseverance, work well in a team, be able to understand other points of view, think laterally and communicate well." Wendy Faulkner of Edinburgh University says: "the labels male/female brains enter consciousness and such stereotypes are the basis of inequality". The report concludes that there is no evidence that biological differences accounted for under representation of women academics in science and mathematics but that most men and women carry predjudices of which they are unaware but which influence their evaluations of other people and their work.

The recommendations of the Women and Work Commission have recently been published in a report 'Towards a Fairer Future'. The report addresses the causes of the gender pay gap, outlines initiatives aimed at helping people better balance work and family life and looks at how to encourage women to become entrepreneurs. Read the report here.

If you missed Professor Wendy Hall's Cambridge University Women in Science, Engineering and Technology Initiatve, WiSETI, lecture 'Towards a Science of the Web: The power of networks' on 2nd May 2007 or would like to hear it again, an audio recording is available here.

Female academics at new universities get a fairer pay deal than those in old ones writes Rebecca Attwood in the 11th May 2007 issue of the Times Higher Education Supplement. The gender pay gap at Russell Group Universities averaged 18.6% compared to 6.2% at Campaigning for Modern Universities Institutions.

Call your daughter Alex if you want her to study maths or physics after the age of 16! So says Prof. David Figlio of the University of Florida (The Observer, 29/04/07).
Prof. Figlio says "girls with feminine names were often typecast ... and may feel more pressure to avoid technical subjects". This study will be published in the Journal of Human Resources shortly.

From Part-time to Professor ... A success story. Professor Margaret Rayman is an inspiration for women who have taken time out of their career to have a family, care for a relative or relocate with a partner and would like to return to that fulfilling career. After taking a lengthy career break to bring up her two children, she returned to research on a Daphne Jackson Fellowship. Now, 13 years after this fellowship, Margaret Rayman has been awarded a Personal Chair in Nutritional Medicine at the University of Surrey. She says "I am delighted that I am now a Professor and I hope that I have demonstated that it is possible for women, even after a long break, to return to their careers and be successful. The Daphne Jackson Trust gave me that all important first step back on to the ladder of success and I would wholeheartedly recommend a fellowship to anyone who is thinking of returning to a scientific career".

Tennie Videler found an interesting letter in the April 19th issue of Nature (v446) from Pamela Silver asking "Why do so few women speak at science meetings?" If you have strong views on this email Nature!

Some of you may be aware that the national Association for Women in Science and Engineering has been in a period of dormancy for some time. Should this network be revived? Several women, from a variety of organisations have been funded by the UK Resource Centre for women in SET to investigate the need for such a network. Please complete a short survey and let them know your views. Would a national network be useful? If so what should its main objectives and functions be? They plan to hold a meeting for interested parties to to discuss the results of the survey and more information will follow on this.

Breaking Barriers is a research program which is gathering data on career progression and gender discrimination to identify the barriers and drivers to women's learning, progression and development. If you're a mid-career woman in the bio/health and care sectors and would like to contribute, visit the University of Liverpool website.
Jan Bogg, Director of the Breaking Barriers Project at Liverpool University, has written an article in Nature (vol 447, May 2007) looking the under representation of women in SET and the measures employers could put in place to help women progress. Read it here.

NESTA is the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. They are the largest single endowment devoted exclusively to supporting talent, innovation and creativity in the UK. Their mission is to transform the UK’s capacity for innovation. We invest in early stage companies, inform innovation policy and encourage a culture that helps innovation to flourish. Their Crucible programme gives early stage researchers the opportunity to develop new collaborations across disciplines, develop new ideas and explore the wider potential of their work. The closing date is 30th April.

We’re sorry to report that Professor Karen Sparck Jones, a member of Cambridge AWiSE since its inception, died on the 4th April aged 71. Professor Sparck Jones was Emeritus Professor of Computing and Information at Cambridge University and one of the most remarkable women in computer science. Her slogan was “Computing is too important to be left to men.” She believed that "women bring a different perspective to computing, they are more thoughtful and less inclined to go straight for technical fixes. My belief is that intellectually, computer science is fascinating - you're trying to make things that don't exist." Her full obituary can be read here.

HSBC Very Early Career Women Physicist of the Year Awards. Cambridge University final year Ph.D. Student, Andrea Ma, has been announced as a runner up for this award. These awards, made by the Women in Physics Group of the Institute of Physics and HSBC publicise the success of young women physicists and show others how their careers could develop. Andrea's research is in the area of Quantum Monte Carlo techniques. She uses these to calculate the properties of materials, including diamonds as well as developing technical improvements to the method. The winner was Liz Ainsbury. Her Ph.D. looked at whether there is a link between extremely low frequency magnetic fields such as those produced by power lines and childhood leukemia.

The Gender Equality Duty comes into force on 6th April 2007. All public bodies in England, Scotland and Wales must demonstrate that they are promoting equality for women and men and eliminating sexual discrimination and harassment. For more information, visit the Equal Opportunities Commission Website.

New provisions for Maternity leave come into force on 1st April 2007 as part of the 2006 Work and Families Act. Women with babies due after 1st April 2007 will now be entitled to 9 months paid maternity leave and three months unpaid. For more information on maternity rights, see the Equal Opportunities Commission website. The 2006 Work and Families Act also extends the right to request flexible working to carers of adults. In addition, the Government has guaranteed that by the end of 2009, every women will be given the right to choose where they give birth.

Why do women remain curiosuly absent for the ranks of academia? Mary Anne Holmes and Suzanne O'Connell write in the March 15th issue of Nature (v446). Policy makers have addressed some ways to get more women on to the lower rungs of the ladder, but solutions at the higher steps - tenure and beyond - are proving a little more difficult. Read more .... In the same issue, Lutz Bornmann looks at gender bias in academic grant applications. When it comes to applying for grants, women seem to be at a disadvantage - they are less likely to succeed than their male counterparts. Read more ....

Finest females still making a mark. We're not equal yet. So say Cambridge's finest female athletes, writers and scientists on International Womens's Day, 8th March 2007. Dr. Jennifer Koenig, a fellow of Lucy Cavendish College and director of studies in Pharmacology at St John's College, says there are still plenty of inequalities in the scientific community. As chair of Cambridge AWiSE. an organisation to promote women in science, she works hard to find practical solutions. Read more ...

On the 8th March 2007 the portraits for the 2007 Women of Outstanding Achievement in SET Exhibition were unveiled at a ceremony at the Science Museum. This exciting collection of portraits is both a celebration and tribute to the collective and individual contribution that women are making to science, engineering and technology. With just 24.1% of employees in SET professions being women, the UKRC is constantly seeking new ways to make women in SET more visible as role models and inspiration to others. Cambridge AWiSE Steering Group member, Tennie Videler, successfully nominated her supervisor, Prof. Carol Robinson of the University of Cambridge. To see her photograph and those of the other Outstanding Women, visit the UKRC website.

The Equalities Review commissioned by Tony Blair and chaired by Trevor Philips has highlighted that women with young children face the greatest employment inequality. Jenny Watson chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission says "Our own work has shown that achieving equality for women at work is far from done, and it's good to have this recognised in the Equalities Review. But today, 3 in 4 people say it should be as easy for men to take time off for caring responsibilities as women, indicating the challenge of balancing work and family isn't only an issue that affects women. If we are to make these recommendations fit the future, part of the solution must be extending the right to request flexible work to everyone. Only then can we cope with the social revolution we are living through, with far more women at work, far more fathers wanting to spend more time with their children and far more of us caring for older relatives. Forward looking businesses already do this, and they see the positive impact it has on their staff -- and their bottom line."

Women publish fewer papers than men but they have higher impact!
Research by Matthew Symonds et al. in the 27th December 2006 issue of the journal PLoS One shows that women's papers are cited 20% more than men! Symonds says "One explanation is that female researchers produce fewer but higher quality publications".

Women's Business Mapped! The Greater Cambridgeshire Partnership has produced a report on mapping the support for future female entrepreneurs and women returners in the Greater Cambridgeshire Region. Walter Herriot, author of the report, said "There is a real and urgent requirement to create better awareness of support available to women and specifically to stimulate greater involvement by highly qualified women in making the most of the opportunities available to them".

Equal Measures: Investigating University Science Pay and Opportunites for Success. Sara Connolly, UEA, Norwich. Sara has recieved funding from ESRC to look at factors influencing pay and career sucess. Early investigations show that, despite improvements in recruiting practices and greater awareness by managers of diversity and equality, inequalities in pay and opportunities for success remain. Read the briefing here.

Women in Science - Irena Dingley of BBC Cambridgeshire talks to Jenny Koenig
Both boys and girls will enjoy the Cambridge Science Festival this year, but there's still a big gender gap when it comes to careers in science and engineering. Jenny Koenig of AWiSE tells us about the difficulties women face and what can be done. Read more ...