Diana Temple and Cathy Foley
The Melbourne conference last November was a stimulating and rewarding experience. I was very glad to participate, to put faces to people who had been names, as well as to encounter old friends and acquaintances from interstate, such as Jo O'Neil, Sue Lewis, Edeline Wentrup-Byrne. Four Wisenet members travelled from Sydney - Rosemary Sutton, Julie Evans, Cathy Foley and I. Kirrily Moore, Wisenet's Hobart representative, was there, and Sue Lewis who had been Wisenet's member on the organising committee.
The speakers represented establishments under the umbrella of each of the co-organisers - research workers, chiefs of CSIRO divisions, senior and junior academics, science teachers, and students. It is apparent that women who work in laboratories, in administration, in teaching, in post-graduate research in scientific establishments in all states have many common experiences and problems. As a retired scientist with a lifetime interest (or obsession?) in this subject, I reflect that Australian women's scientific achievements appear to be more evident now than in past generations, and to be receiving more public recognition. But, as illustrated in Sue Serjeantson's telling account of Joan and John, we must all continue to strive for improvement in women's position in science.
Diana Temple
Last November I went with two of my colleagues to the Women in Science Day. Immediately it felt strange to be in a room with 99% women. Being a physicist in CSIRO I have rarely been in this environment. I have been deeply involved in past years with Wisenet and various Women in Science programs. Recently I have not had time to join in these activities. Moving to a higher level of responsibility as a project leader and having a job that demanded more and more of my time, compounded with children who are now primary school age and taking up more time than they ever did as babies, extra curricula activities have been limited somewhat. This day gave me a chance to meet with my old friends and make new ones.
I want to comment on a few thoughts from the conference.
It was very pleasing to see so many young women coming into science with a clear view of what it means to work in this sometimes frustrating career with often limited opportunities. It was wonderful to meet with older women who are well advanced in their careers and who are, in some cases, leaders of institutions and departments. What saddened me was the realisation that there appears to be a lost generation. Where were all the35-45 year old women? There were some but not very many. Is it because they were too busy and just not there, could they not get the financial support to attend or have they been lost to science? I wonder.
The talks were excellent. I specially enjoyed Sue Sertgenson's talk about John and Joan and saw how I had at times I had fallen into the trap of not playing the science game. But I have begun to wonder if doing it the "male way" is the solution. I have been successful as a scientist ( I am a senior principal research scientist- level 8- in CSIRO at the age of 42 and a project leader of a large multi-million dollar project). I have pretty much avoided playing the boys' game. It is not my style. When I tried to do this I failed badly. What I found worked for me was to give myself permission to be me. For example, when important visitors came to the lab who worked in my field, I asked them home to dinner. They read the kids stories and enjoyed being a person with a colleague rather than a high level scientist to be sucked up to. As a result I was confident to ask these people to give me references for a recent senior promotion.
The other big event for me was to meet two CSIRO chiefs who are women. What an inspiration! I enjoyed the sessions they each ran and the discussion. What was also terrific was to see these women in action. Real role models.
I look forward to the next meeting. I hope that two days will allow us to dig a bit deeper and really address the issues that make a career in science a limited opportunity particularly for women.
Cathy Foley
CSIRO Telecommunications and Industrial Physics