Represent!

Last week, Kiran, I, and another postdoc (Heidi) from Fred Hutch made an outreach excursion to Western Washington University in Bellingham to talk about our research and career paths. The two-hour session was part of a class in bioinformatics, but students in biology, chemistry, mathematics, and computer science were attending as well. The whole event was incredibly fun and uplifting, and as we drove back to Seattle afterwards the three of us talked a lot about how impressed we were of the students' interest in our research and the many clever questions they came up with during the discussion that followed. The fact that we were an all-female panel of scientists added to the feeling of accomplishment.

This morning when I got to work an email with comments from the organizer had landed in my inbox, and I would like to share some of what he wrote:

”I asked my Bioinformatics class today what they thought of the event yesterday. Students said it was “absolutely fascinating” to see what you’re all working on. [...] Even the students who were quiet during your talks and the Q&A session had wonderful things to say about the visit and were very specific when I asked them what they took away from the talks (they referred to things such as [...] “don’t be afraid to ask questions” [...] “even the experts don’t know everything”, etc). And in today’s student-led class discussion about protein classification and protein engineering there were four references to your talks yesterday! [...] Way to make an impact!!”

I got all warm and fuzzy inside already by that first paragraph, but there was more to come:

”Two of the BioChem majors [...] said this is the first time they’ve seen a talk by female researchers! [...] they said that all of the colloquia presentations they’ve attended at Western were given by men and they said that almost all of the questions at those talks were asked by male professors. They said that your comments about asking questions gave them a little boost of confidence and resulted in each of them asking a couple questions yesterday. I can guarantee you that your visit made an impact and will stick with all of the students for a long time but with these two students especially.”

At first, I just felt incredibly proud and happy to have contributed to inspiring these two girls, by demonstrating that female researchers are just as able and professional as their male colleagues. Way to go!

...but then it dawned on me how depressing their statements really were, and my heart sunk.

Not once had they had a woman present her research to them.

Not. Once.

Coincidentally, I happened to come across this article a few hours later, reporting the results of a recent European study, which revealed that among over 1100 people (including scientists), 25 percent could not name a single famous female scientist. Well, no wonder! If 21st century university students still hardly get to interact with, or even see, women in research, then how on earth will we ever make ourselves known?

I could go on and on about how infuriating and unfair this is, and how frustrated I get when people refuse to see the structural inequalities that are dangling right in front of their noses, but it is late and I need to get up early tomorrow morning to prepare for an imaging study that will keep me busy until almost midnight.

That is my job; this is what I do. I work hard, and I want to be credited accordingly in the end, regardless of what chromosomes I happen to have been born with.

For all the future Marie Curies, Ada Lovelaces, Lise Meitners, Émilie du Châtelets, Ada Yonaths, and Linda Bucks: ladies, we have to make ourselves seen and heard. No one is going to do the work for us; it's up to us to demonstrate that science has no gender, nor has brilliance. So get out there and represent! I sure will.

(But first: sleep.)