• Question: does being a female scientist seem to give you lower expectations?

    Asked by ./hannah/. to Siana, Sara, Carolyn, Peter, Richard on 9 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by Imogen, ebby, Mollymoo.
    • Photo: Sara Falcone

      Sara Falcone answered on 9 Nov 2015:


      Do you mean that people expect less from me being a female scientist? No, it never happened. I have always been treated according to my skills, I have never experienced any form of discrimination for being a girl so mine is a personal (positive) experience.
      If you mean do I have less expectation about my job because I am a female scientist? I am sure I stand the same chances to have a brilliant careerer than anyone else.

    • Photo: Carolyn Nielsen

      Carolyn Nielsen answered on 9 Nov 2015:


      Definitely not!

      I know a lot of very talented female scientists, and my boss is actually a very successful female Professor and gets interviewed a lot by the media for her role in malaria vaccine development.

      If you are female and want to have children, there will always be a break in your career for at least a short time when you give birth, but this will happen whether you work in science or somewhere else. This does not need to stop you from having ambitious goals for your career though 🙂

    • Photo: Siana Jones

      Siana Jones answered on 9 Nov 2015:


      No, I don’t personally expect less from myself because I’m a female scientist.

      If you mean, do other people expect less of me because I’m female? then I hope not. However, if they do, then I guess it’s only going to wok out well for me when I exceed their expectations:)

    • Photo: Richard Unwin

      Richard Unwin answered on 20 Nov 2015:


      Hi Guys,

      I Think I answered this via a comment but it seem to have vanished. It’s not true. My lab has both male and female scientists and my expections are the same regardless (in fact, the females in my lab tend to be more organised and better at managing their work than the boys, but don’t tell them I said that). Either way, in science nowadays, gender is NOT the issue it may be in other areas – everyone is judged on their ability to do their job. Nothing else.

Comments