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Women in Science

Lucie Charles

Post-doc in Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL

Anne Christophe

CNRS Senior Researcher, Unit Director (LSCP), ENS

Aude Nyadanu

PhD student in Chemistry, X-ENS

L'Oréal-UNESCO Prize

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With thanks to:

Email: womeninsciencedec@gmail.com

Resources: https://ensdeclife.wixsite.com/declife/� women-in-science

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Today

Short opening

Panel

Q&A

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Why this panel?

  • To have a more informed discussion
  • Learn from each other’s experiences
  • Acknowledge and deal with biases
  • Improve! We are the scientific community

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Representation

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Inequalities in STEM

Percentage of women in higher education:

  • OECD average: 39%
  • In France: 38%

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Glass Ceiling

CNRS Mission pour la place des Femmes

Across disciplines, percentage of women:

  • Higher Education: 55%
  • Doctorate: 48%
  • Funded Doctorate: 43%
  • Researchers: 35%

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Rapport de situation comparée 2016

EU-28 average, in science and engineering:

EU Commission, SHE Figures 2015

BSc

PhD

Professor

PI

Post-doc

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Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR)

2018 Governing Board

- M. Jean-François BALAUDÉ

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- M. Antoine PETIT

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- M. François JACQ

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- M. Yves LEVY

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- M. François SILLION

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- M. Christophe GÉGOUT

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Overall:

Representatives of the major scientific domains:

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- substitute: Mme Lise DUMASY

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- substitute: Mme Stéphanie THIÉBAULY

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- substitute: Mme Christine CHERBUT

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- substitute: Mme Carine GIOVANNANGELI

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- substitute: Mme Catherine GARBAY

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- substitute: Mme Sophie AVRIL

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Order of the Ministry of Education, 07/03/2018

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Invisibility

  • Less likely to be invited for conferences, colloquia, across disciplines
  • Women are less likely to speak up or ask questions, e.g. in seminars, classes, conferences

Hinsley et al, 2017; Moore-Cantwell, 2017; Nittrouer et al, 2017

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Self-confidence

  • Men tend to be overconfident
    • Physiology undergrads (N=202):
      • Average man thinks he is smarter than 66% of class
      • Average woman: 54%
  • “Impostor syndrome”

Cooper et al, 2018;

Bernard et al 2017

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Publication

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Inequalities in Publications

EU-28 average, across disciplines:

Women as corresponding authors:

  • 31% of publications
    • I.e. half of men’s publications
  • Less than the proportion of women/men in academia (~40%)
  • Larger inequalities in STEM

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EU Commission, SHE Figures 2015

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Women publish less – but are more readable

  • In the field of economics, publications by women get more scrutiny by the editor
  • Peer reviews take ~6 months longer
  • Consequently, women’s papers are more readable than men’s

Hengel, 2017

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Women supervisors benefit women

  • Women PhD students publish more papers and are 50% more likely to become academics when supervised by women

Gaule & Piacentini, 2018

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Parenthood

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Our expectations of parents is different

Women

  • Are expected to be the main caretakers
  • Are also expected not to let it affect their work

Men

  • Struggle with expectations that their career should be no. 1

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Two married colleagues each brought their son to a lecture because daycare closed last-minute. This was mentioned in both of their student evaluations. Try to guess which prof was called "unprofessional" and which was described as "a great parent".

T. Ryan Gregor, biology prof, Ontario

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… but parents in academia share many problems

  • Mobility: leaving the support network for a post-doc/job
  • Going to conferences
  • Networking

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Though more likely to affect women

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Mental health in Academia

4

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Depression and anxiety

  • General problem in academia, but affects women and transgender people more
  • Online Survey (N = 2279)
    • across 26 countries
    • mostly PhD candidates

Evans et al, 2018

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Strategies for progress

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Examples of helpful strategies

  • Adapting hiring and promotion procedures
    • Diversity and equality task-forces
    • Structured interviews
  • Adapting peer review procedures
    • Blind reviews (e.g. curtain test)
  • Mentorship
  • Consideration of the needs of parents
    • Timings of colloquia/seminars
    • Flexibility in scheduling events

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Resources

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Women in Science

Lucie Charles

Post-doc in Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL

Anne Christophe

CNRS Senior Researcher, Unit Director (LSCP), ENS

Aude Nyadanu

PhD student in Chemistry, X-ENS

L'Oréal-UNESCO Prize

​

With thanks to:

Email: womeninsciencedec@gmail.com

Resources: https://ensdeclife.wixsite.com/declife/� women-in-science

​