4 th July 2013 On a Lifetime of being a Physicist, Partner and Parent Gillian Gehring

Who am I ? 1941Born Undergraduate Manchester University DPhil Oxford University Research Fellow Oxford Research fellow Berkley California Lecturer in Oxford (St Hugh’s/Theoretical Physics) 1968 Married Karl Gehring 1979, 1981 Daughters born Professor of Physics Sheffield 2006-Emeritus Professor with active research group.

Activities to boost Women in SET Member of working party for ‘The Rising Tide’ 1992 Committee member of Women in Physics group IOP. Analysed IoP data on salaries by age and gender Wrote ‘Mixing motherhood and science’ IOP 2002 Led the UK delegation to the IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics 2002 Was a member of the IoP Diversity Committee Chair of IoP Site Committee Chair of the European Physical Society Women’s group On Founding Board for the EU Platform for Women in Science

Philosophy of Talk I will use some of my own experiences but also that which I have learned from conferences on gender issues in science Etan report: How far should women be schooled to enable them to compete with men? How far should Universities adapt their procedures to allow themselves to take advantage of women’s talents?

An image problem My philosophy colleague Jenny Saul has made a study of the effects of images on affecting behaviour. Its not conscious and everyone has them Test yourself on Harvard : Implicit bias test Sheffield University has started a project to get more photographs and portraits of women in the University. Portrait of a Woman web pages at:

The Portrait of a Woman Prize was established by Rosie Valerio on her retirement in March 2011 as HR Director at the University of Sheffield. In summer 2012, colleagues from across the University nominated women whom they admired, or who had inspired them, whether a past or present member of staff, and whose portrait they would like to see hung in Firth Hall. Now a booklet produced with all 28 photographs in it. There will be one oil painting by next summer. Portrait of a Woman Prize The aim of the Portrait of a Woman Prize is to celebrate, represent and highlight the contributions of women to the University Photographer Anton Want

Dame Kathleen Lonsdale

What is special about physicists? Physicists think they are special ! It is also the area of natural science where there are the least number of women The IUPAP has set up a series of conferences: Paris (2002), Rio (2005), Seoul (2008), Stellenbosch (2011) The IoP has a number of good initiatives: Juno scheme to recognise and reward good gender practice. Also produces many statistics:

UK nationals EU Other Women 03/ Women 09/ Men 03/ Men 09/ Concerned that we are not preparing UK nationals to the required standard and for the message it sends our undergraduates Hugely encouraging! RA Lecturer S.L. Professors

15 professors (44 men) 2 senior lecturers (23 men) 2 lecturers (9 men) 1 researcher (4 men) Note the high fraction of women who are over 55 and professors. The entry bar was too high! Really good news!!

Many successful women scientists are also mothers see ‘Mothers in Science 64 ways to have it all’ Useful advice from Mary Warnock: Two jobs are fun – three is a disaster! Rearing children does take time – enjoy it ! Being an active research scientist and University teacher is also very rewarding But learn to say ‘no’ to inessential extras while you have additional home responsibilities. Used to be the case that women got lectureship first and children second. This is changing – slowly.

An Idea whose time has come! Everywhere there are media reports on the disparate careers and salaries of men and women. The EU aims to increase the spending on research which will only be possible if there are more EU scientists. Hence the need to train and retain women. There are the Swan awards. There are schemes for ‘Returners’ At last the focus has shifted towards educating the men as well as forming women’s networks etc And, and ………

Current issues An increasing need for scientists to publicise their work by attending international conferences and workshops – this requires much additional childcare. Many employers regard extended periods abroad in prestigious laboratories as very desirable, if not essential, in an appointee. This affects the careers of both men and women who are in a stable relationship particularly if they have children. The age at which permanent university appointments are made are the age when graduate women are likely to have young children. Traps for the unwary: Getting seen in the department as someone who is very good with dealing with difficult students : Doing lots of Outreach Activities Both of these activities are very important and worthwhile but it is important that the department gives proper credit for it.