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A dozen scientists, researchers and academics recount the moments where they have felt discriminated against
Behind a mirage of apparent impartiality, the scientific world also hides spaces full of misogynistic attitudes, micromachismos, glass ceilings Y bullying situations. “I earn less than the rest of my colleagueseven having more training and responsibilities than them”, comments a scientist. “My scientific career has not progressed at the same speed than that of my male colleagues,” adds another. “A laboratory manager humiliated me for defending my feminist idealsI had to leave the center and because of this my line of investigation was stopped for years”, denounces a researcher.
A dozen of scientists, researchers and doctors agree to explain their case in EL PERIÓDICO. With a condition. they all ask that his story be explained from anonymity. “I don’t want to carry a reputation for conflict,” argues one. “These situations are something that happens everywhere, but if I explain my case with names and surnames, I I fear that more retaliation will fall before me than before the person who denigrated me”, adds another. In the middle of the #Metoo era, yes, the scientists agree on the importance of making visible the structural discriminations that affect the work of these professionals and that, in the long term, can be an obstacle to their career.
Under the slogan “Science also happens”, and on the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF) has launched a majestic campaign to give visibility to situations that reflect gender inequalities in science. The initiative, Illustrated by cartoonist Javier Royopick up “real experiences” narrated in the first person by almost fifty researchers from the center. All these stories, far from being an anomaly or a specific case, are reproduced over and over again in all institutions and spheres of the scientific worldas corroborated by the dozens of cases collected by this newspaper.
“If it happens for a day, you get pissed. But if it happens for years, it is likely that it will end up affecting your career and your mental health,” says a professional
From “small slights” to “structural obstacles”
There are not always great situations of violence. In many cases, the professionals explain, discrimination begins with something more “subtle”. Like a comment. A joke. An awkward question. “It’s often a subtle thing.. Like when you have an idea, you talk about it in a meeting and no one listens to you, but then a male researcher talks about it and it seems like it’s perfect,” explains a female scientist. “These small contempt and humiliation they lower your self-esteem and make you think you’re never in the right place,” he adds. “If a day goes by, you get pissed off. But if it goes on for years, it’s likely end up affecting your career and your mental health“says the researcher.
According to several professionals questioned on this issue, the problem is not a punctual comment, but the sum of all of them. And the consequences that this type of attitude entails in the scientific world. “The same machismo that makes you insult one day, the next day deny you a job opportunity“comments an academic. “When I got pregnant they excluded me from a project. And when I came back from my maternity leave I felt like I was either making up for lost time or I could never progress in my career,” says another. “When you are a mother they stop considering you for certain positions of responsibility, but the same does not happen with parents”, adds a researcher.
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Among the dozen testimonies collected by this newspaper, the scientists describe all kinds of situations of discrimination. From insulting comments to cases of pay gap, loss of job opportunities and discrimination in the workplace. But, beyond the external pressure, the professionals also point out the burden of carrying the impostor syndrome: “I have to make three times the effort to feel that my work is worth it, otherwise I feel like an impostor,” according to an academic. “Scientists continue to fight against a glass labyrinth from which it is impossible to escape“, summarizes, forcefully, another of the scientists.
“Worst of all is that there are still many people who do not realize these discriminations“, reflects an academic. “We have so accepted some of the macho attitudes that many times we are unable to see them“, adds another.