Guest editorial by Rosemary Sutton
When
Julie Evans and I discussed the content of this issue of the Journal
and the current events we wanted to tell all WISENET members about, there
were several items for which she wanted more input from me – so who better
to write the Editorial!
The first was feedback from my article in the last issue on women in CSIRO. I was delighted with the email responses and the large audience it reached particularly, via our Web site. Family friendly policies in workplaces are having a beneficial effect and wider adoption and expansion will help more women achieve a comfortable balance of career and family commitments. Two responses in particular showed me that the best companies in the private sector are now leading the way. Leeta Caiger’s email on the flexibility and compassion shown in AnalChem is reproduced as a letter to the editor. Julie brought to my attention the AMP policy of parental leave, which doesn’t discriminate between men and women. AMP grants 6 weeks paid leave, plus unpaid leave to primary caregivers of newborn children. Increasingly men in AMP are taking parental leave either full-time or part-time, giving them a new opportunity to closely bond with their babies, right at the time when they most feel the societal pressures to provide financially for the family.
An internal debate has begun in CSIRO on some of the other issues I raised, like glass ceilings and revolving doors, following release of an extensive report by Sandra Eady. Sandra’s data analysis has shown that women in CSIRO are being promoted at the same rate (scientists) or faster (technical staff) than men, despite reporting slightly lower number of hours worked. However the report confirms that women scientists, managers, project and technical staff are more likely to be in fixed term positions than men (e.g. 25% of women scientists cf 12% of men), and identifies the reasons for the higher rate of loss of senior women compared with men from CSIRO as term completion and resignation. The later may be linked to the poor rate of promotion of women scientists into scientific management. Indeed of the 8 women who completed a leadership development program between 1989 and 1997, only 2 (25%) remain in the CSIRO, whereas 82% of the 71 men are still employed by CSIRO. I hope that the recent appointment of Dr Annabelle Duncan as Chief of Molecular Science is the start of a new era of proper recognition of the talents of senior women within CSIRO. Congratulations Annabelle!
The English scientific journal Nature is running a web debate on Women in Science, which shows that the issues that women scientists in Australia face are international ones, though not on the same scale as women in poorer areas of the world.
Back closer to home, the one day Women Achieving in Science Conference will be held at RMIT, central Melbourne on Friday 12th November. This will be a great meeting with excellent workshop topics. Unfortunately the date was not set until after the last Journal issue, so WISENET was limited to email in getting notice of this meeting out to women early. However if you can manage to get there, it is not too late to register and I’m sure you’ll get very good value for the $75 registration fee. The organising parties were the CSIRO-CPSU, WISENET, FASTS and NTEU. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate Sue Lewis and Kate Hawkins who have been WISENET's representatives on the organising committee for the conference, and Pauline Gallagher the conference organiser, for all their efforts.
In a bid to bring this conference to more women in science in Australia, WISENET has applied for a grant from the Office of Status of Women to write a report on the conference with policy recommendations both in electronic form on our web site and also in the form of a special glossy journal issue (like Science Futures) for wide circulation. If we are unsuccessful in getting the grant, the July 2000 issue will bring as much of the conference to you as WISENET can manage with volunteers and our limited budget.
On Wednesday 24th November in Canberra, there will be a Science Meets Parliament day organised by FASTS – the Federation of Australian Science and Technology Societies. We are affiliated with FASTS and have been invited to send representatives to this event, to meet on an individual basis with politicians, delivering the message that funding for research and development is an investment in Australia's future. Any WISENET members who are able and willing to attend both the FASTS briefing the day before and the event, can contact link members for further details and application form.
The central link team of WISENET met at a special meeting on September 9 and made a number of changes to spread the effort involved in keeping WISENET going. These days it seems nobody can find time – so we all need to make time! Diana Temple has been Sydney Convenor since WISENETs inception (1984) and National Convenor since the Canberra team handed over to Sydney, as well as a mainstay of the Editorial Team. This heroic effort was too hard for any one person to follow on, so I have become National Convenor, and Diana will continue as acting Sydney Convenor with Julie Evans assisting and other members of the link team volunteering to help with special meetings. Given the on-going heavy commitments that many people have, we decided that the approach of smaller defined tasks for individuals may be a better way for WISENET. Perhaps this is a model, other link teams might like to try.
The task of editing the journal is another big task that can be shared. Nicola Elliot has joined Julie as Assistant Editor and Judy Mackinolty has continued to be a marvellous support with her News and Notes. Julie would also like to especially thank Barbara Goldflam from WA for her contributions. Wendy Russell and the Wollongong team will coordinate the next journal issue, dedicated to the memory of Toni O’Neill.
However, Wanted: An Editorial Team for WISENET Journal - November 2000 Edition, as Julie will be tied up with Olympics weather. If any WISENET group have ideas about a focus or theme for the third issue next year and are interested in taking on some or all of the tasks involved, we’d love to hear from you!
Rosemary Sutton
National Convenor