• Question: have you ever experienced sexism/racism in your job?

    Asked by teed520typy on 26 Feb 2025.
    • Photo: Charlotte Slade

      Charlotte Slade answered on 25 Feb 2025:

      For the most part I’ve been exceptionally lucky, but I’ve also gotten used to being one of a few women in a room/ building of tens (or hundreds) of men.

      But yes, I have experienced sexism in my career – though thankfully much less now than when I first started in science. Sometimes people still assume I’m not technical enough or try to explain basic things I already know, so it feels like I have to work 10x harder to be seen as a “success”.

      But things are getting better! I work with lots of amazing people who value ideas and skills regardless of gender. When I do face challenges, I try to be direct but professional about it. For example, if someone assumes I’m not technical, I calmly demonstrate my expertise through my work and knowledge.

      I think it’s important to talk about these experiences because it helps change things for the better. That’s one reason why I’m active in our Women in STEM groups and mentor other women in science – we’re all working to make sure everyone has equal opportunities in science, no matter who they are!

    • Photo: Rachael Eggleston

      Rachael Eggleston answered on 25 Feb 2025:

      If I have, it’s been in very subtle ways that I haven’t really realized. I actually only had one or two male professors during my bachelor’s, and both scientists that I did research under were women- so I’ve had a lot of wonderful role models of women in science and academia more broadly. I’ve found that plant biology/ecology tends to have a pretty balanced gender ratio and is a field full of kind people, so I don’t feel othered in that sense.

      If anything, I’ve put pressure on myself to make sure no one thinks I’m incompetent, but that comes from being a perfectionist rather than making up for others’ assumptions.

    • Photo: Amal Lavender

      Amal Lavender answered on 26 Feb 2025:

      as i’ve been working a long time, yes unfortunately i have, but its definitely now rare and often accidental.

Comments

  • Photo: melissau

    melissau commented on :

    yes I have sometimes, when working as a vet with large animals (horses, farm animals) sometimes the owner/farmer thinks that because, they think, that a woman is not as physically strong as a man I couldn’t work with such large animals. But usually I’ve been able to demonstrate that doing my job isn’t just about physical strength, it’s about using technical skills and knowledge about how to solve a problem – there have been a few occasions when being physically smaller (I’m 165cm tall, 55kg) is an advantage, for example, I can get my hands and arms into smaller physical spaces such as delivering a lamb or a calf which a larger person couldn’t