Mending the broken rungs on the scientific career ladder
Renate Schubert has been the ETH Zurich President’s Delegate for Equal Opportunities since 2008. In this interview, she introduces the “Fix the leaky pipeline!” support scheme.
Professor Schubert, you have been involved with the “Fix the leaky pipeline!” career support scheme ever since it was first launched in 2010. This spring, the scheme starts a new cycle. What does it aim to achieve?
Renate Schubert: With our various support services for young talent, we particularly want to help young female researchers at doctorate level and beyond. That’s why these services are tailored to meet the typical, very specific needs of up-and-coming women researchers. After evaluating the scheme last year, we have now been able to adjust our service even more closely to their needs and suggestions for areas to look at.
On what kind of questions do female junior researchers need advice?
Mainly with so-called soft skills such as networking and leadership. On the whole, women in academia and the scientific community are less “visible” than men. They are not so outgoing and less involved in social events – either because they have a child waiting for them at home, or because they are not so keen on this kind of communication. Our courses teach them how to “market” themselves better in general and present themselves more successfully, for example at interviews for academic posts.
Women researchers often decide against an academic career once they have taken their doctorate.
That’s true. Year after year, our gender monitoring shows that the proportion of women falls significantly after doctorate and postdoc levels, and then again between Assistant Professor and Full or Associate Professor levels. So there are two clear “broken rungs” for women on the scientific career ladder.
Why is that?
There are many different reasons. One is certainly that many female scientists begin to think about starting a family after they have taken their doctorate. That’s why ETH Zurich has to send out clear signals showing how an academic career can be reconciled with family life.
Many things have been put into practice already: flexible working hours, family-friendly meeting times and, above all, childcare options that are designed to suit academics’ workloads. However, there are other reasons why we lose a lot of young women, as well as because they are planning a family.
For example, women can find the uncertainties associated with a job in academia off-putting - not least because they have no clear ideas about the possible next steps in their personal academic career.
Female researchers often see no tangible career prospects opening up before them. That’s why we offer a special course on career planning and we also discuss that kind of question individually in our coaching groups.
“Our courses teach women how to present themselves more successfully.”Renate Schubert, ETH Zurich President’s Delegate for Equal Opportunities
Five new coaching groups will be starting in the spring. What can the attendees expect from them?
Over a period of up to six months, we offer young female researchers the opportunity to formulate and discuss their academic goals and individual problem areas in small groups of no more than eight people and under the guidance of experienced coaches. This helps them to get a firmer grip on their personal challenges. Since all participants often encounter similar difficulties or have had similar experiences, it’s useful for them to share these and help each other to find solutions. If necessary, though, they can also book individual sessions with the coaches.
What distinguishes “Fix the leaky pipeline!” from other support programmes for women at ETH Zurich?
Our scheme is open to the next generation of women anywhere in the ETH Domain. This should give up-and-coming researchers the opportunity to meet people outside their individual institutions and to network more effectively within the ETH Zurich community.
What targets does ETH Zurich have with regard to the proportion of female professors?
Back in 2008, we set ourselves the target of having women make up 10 percent of professors by 2015. If you include Assistant Professors, we already reached that target in 2011. However, if you only look at Full and Associate Professors, we’re currently at just under 9 percent. So there’s still more that needs to be done.
Specifically, we have to improve the supervision process at Assistant Professor level and step up our active search for excellent female professors. People also need to be made more aware of the important role played by gender-related stereotypes when it comes to assessing applications right across ETH Zurich.
Incidentally, these aspects, and many other measures, are going to be summarised in a Gender Action Plan for ETH Zurich that is expected to be approved by the Executive Board in the next few weeks.
«Fix the leaky pipeline!»
On Wednesday, 5 February 2014, an information event on "Fix the leaky pipeline!" will be held from 11.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. in the Alumni Pavilion (GEP).
The "Fix the leaky pipeline!" support scheme aims to prepare the next generation of young female junior researchers for the academic job market.
You can find more information about the courses available in 2014/15 and the new coaching groups at:
external page www.fix-the-leaky-pipeline.ch.
Renate Schubert is Professor for Economics at the Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences and has also been the ETH Zurich President’s Delegate for Equal Opportunities since 2008.