Michelle
Smyth
I would like to welcome you all here today on behalf of the Organising Committee. The idea for this conference arose from our union staff talking to women in CSIRO laboratories about issues which concerned them. It was clear that women wanted more contact with other women at work, that many felt isolated. The younger scientists were particularly enthusiastic about recent appointments of women to Chief positions in CSIRO and were keen to have more role models.
We found that the best way to make this happen was to work with other organisations to make it a truly National Conference, to include the widest perspective on careers in S, T and E in Australia.
The organisation of the conference became a collaborative effort between:
It was important to us that money not prevent younger women with limited funds from attending. We sought sponsorship so that we could keep the cost of registration to a minimum. We thank our sponsors for their generous contributions to the conference and hope that you will recognise their genuine and active support for women in science. Almost all of them employ women scientists/ engineers themselves. In particular I will mention
You will see from the program that a large number of topics will be covered today, in the plenary sessions and the workshops. We have some interesting contrasts among the plenary speakers.
Sue Serjeantson spent most of her career in one University, ANU. Sue worked her way to the top while at the same time raising a family.
Ann Henderson Sellers' work has been in mathematical modelling/computing. A feature of her career has been her mobility from one country to another, one institution to another. Yet both Sue and Ann have found the time, and the need, to be active advocates for science and get involved in the politics of science.
Miriam Baltuck this afternoon presents an alternative view of what we can do in science careers. As a representative for NASA, she has used her expertise to contribute in this very masculine bureaucracy and reach a position of responsibility and influence. Her role in liaison through Australia and South East Asia is very political and very much about promoting science for NASA.
The conference is a celebration of how far women have come. We have a lot of women in Australia with outstanding careers in science. But it is not nearly enough to say that we have gender equity. There is still much work to be done.
If there is one single message that I believe it is most important to emphasise, that message is: Women must get up, get out, do things and be advocates for themselves. They must become an independent force, not simply take the second place that is usually allotted to them.
We think the best way of doing this is for women to support each other. At the end of the day we hope to have a clear idea of what the conference delegates see as the best way and how to achieve it.
This is an edited version of the opening address.
Michelle Smyth first joined CSIRO in 1960, started as a base grade Experimental Officer, working on a survey of Australia's coal resources. Michelle continued her research into oil resources until, as a Principle Research Scientist, she retired from CSIRO in 1997.
Michelle always took an interest in many things as well as her science. She was an active member of the CSIRO Staff Association under its many labels since 1961 and held a number of official positions in the Association through the 80's and 90's. Michelle was the federal President between 1992 and 1999 – quite a challenge in yet another male dominated organisation.
Michelle is now a grandmother, having raised two children during her career in CSIRO. Neither of her children is involved in science or unionism.