International Women's Day 2020

Nneoma

“I’m originally from a busy city in Nigeria. I was born there and I’m so used to the hectic nature of urban life, but I wanted to come to a quieter, more serene place to study for a change. It’s good to experience different perspectives and see life from another angle. I feel like, as an international student, living in another country and going to school in another place definitely helps broaden your mind. I did look around York before I studied here, but visiting and living somewhere is so different. I’d only visited in the summer, and I knew that the weather would vary, but I didn’t expect it to be so different in the autumn and winter months. I also didn’t expect everyone to be so nice and welcoming - that’s been a nice surprise!

It’s vital to have representation and support from and for people from different backgrounds at the University and I’m helping do this through my role as an International Student Ambassador. I think it’s important that these roles are in place and that we are able to help reflect how the University actually is to people who are thinking about studying here.   

I’m currently the secretary for York African Caribbean Society (ACS) which is a student society for people from African and Caribbean backgrounds. We have a mix of international students and people from the UK who have family from those regions. We host lots of events throughout the year and it’s good for togetherness and just to feel at home. When I came to the university, being part of ACS made me feel better because, even though I'm away from home, it means I have people here I can relate to. It’s nice to have that even if I don’t see them everyday. 

I’m studying Law and I’ve chosen Human Rights as one of my option modules. I wanted to study this topic because women’s rights, especially in Nigeria, are awful. There are terrible things happening like young girls being forced into marriage, and female genital mutilation (FGM). I feel very strongly about things like that – I want to use my studies as a stepping stone to change in terms of human rights in Nigeria. This is one one of my goals in life - to make sure that women are respected because right now many are not. That’s important to me. In terms of the law, the way rape trials and cases are handled in my home country needs improvement - sometimes there aren’t consequences for actions, even when there’s clear evidence. Human rights as a subject is very international. We have learned about events such as the Holocaust and Rwandan genocide, as well as issues faced in the UK.

Even though I feel that the situation for women in the UK is better than back home, there is still a lot of misogyny and issues do exist, such as the gender pay gap. I feel like the way that people see women, and react and respond to what they are saying needs work. 

Something that I really like about York is the input that the students have into how the University is. It feels very student-led - we are able to have a say in so many areas of student life. Our opinions matter and it’s good to see feedback from student surveys being used to make positive changes.” - Nneoma, second year LLB Law student, York Law School

Caroline

“I’ve been part of equality and diversity work in the Department of Chemistry since the very beginning really, which was a few years before the Athena SWAN scheme even started. I’m now the chair of the Equality and Diversity group in Chemistry.

Initially my involvement was driven by personal experience. I held a Royal Society University Research Fellowship and I had already had my first child.  It was a time when there were very few women in the Department, so I was able to contribute to building new policies for the Department by sharing my “lived experience”. I was someone who could talk about the issues that I was facing as a young academic with a young child. 

In 2003 I got involved in a project with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation through the Royal Society where I was asked to write a diary for a book - ‘Science, Not Art: Ten Scientists' Diaries’. At the time it felt quite pioneering to talk about your home life, as well your working life because this just wasn't done. After it was published we included some extracts in one of the chemistry magazines in the department. At the time, one of the senior academics said to me “gosh you're so brave to have done that - I showed my wife and she couldn't believe it”. What a different world we're living in now. I’ve valued the opportunity to do things like that and be somebody in the Department of Chemistry who could be a successful academic alongside making family life work. 

Previous Heads of Department, Robin Peretz, and then subsequently Paul Walton, have been great supporters of women scientists and as a result the Department made a conscious effort over a period of years to recruit more women. This has had a knock-on effect and led to us seeing many more women applying for roles in the Department. In the early 2000s, there were few female academics who had children, and it was one thing that was considered to create a barrier that prevented young women from deciding to pursue academic careers in chemistry - the idea that you can either have a family or an academic career, not both. 

The Department has an Athena SWAN Gold award and we’ve held this for over a decade now. We were the first department here to achieve this and it’s had an impact in encouraging other departments to apply.  It’s been really satisfying to see the impact it’s had in changing the behaviour of men too. We have female professors who work part-time, but we also have male professors who work part-time. I think male academic staff feel that they can work part-time, having seen that women were able to make it work. I think that's very much what the atmosphere is like in our department - flexibility and part-time work is something we are proud of, and is very much part of our departmental identity. 

I think that role models can be hugely important to have as a scientific community, especially if we're thinking about other protected characteristics that are important for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. That is something I'm very conscious of at the moment as there's an absolute dearth of BME academics in the UK chemistry.  We really need more - it’s important for current BME undergraduates and PhD students to aspirational role models in those positions.

International Women's Day is a great opportunity to celebrate some of the wonderful achievements of women on campus and all across the world. And that is really so important for us as chemists. While on many levels there have been improvements in terms of gender equality in science, I think there are still challenges - for example women winning the biggest prizes in science like Nobel Prizes. So, there is work to be done in terms of properly celebrating the achievements of women, but I think we’re moving in the right direction.” - Dr Caroline Dessent, Reader in Physical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry

Mo

“I've been at the University for about 15 years and I've always been really open about my own disability, even when I was walking quite well, because it is quite an unpredictable condition. I have a hypermobility syndrome which means that my mobility can vary from day to day. When I started working here, there wasn't a disabled staff network. INCLUDE (Inclusive Network Connecting and Linking University Disabled Employees) was established five years ago by Liz Critchley in HR and I took on the role of co-chair around three years ago alongside Penny Spikins from the Department of Archaeology. What started quite small is now gaining more momentum across the University. The steering group has grown this year and within the network we cover a broad spectrum of disabilities, and none, so there are lots of different perspectives. There’s been an awful lot of positive change since the network began. 

We hold three network meetings a year and they are open to all staff, whether they are disabled or just interested in hearing about disability matters. We're not an exclusive network - hopefully we live up to our name in that we are inclusive and everyone feels welcome. Disability does affect everybody and that’s why this network is important. We might not know if someone has a disability but we will be interacting with disabled people in our jobs. And if you’re disabled yourself, it's good to contribute to accessibility initiatives across the university and meet with peers and people who are supportive. 

Sometimes people are fearful of reporting a disability because they think that it will be viewed negatively, but for most people disclosing disability is a positive thing, because adjustments can be put in place. I think there is still a bit of a stigma around disclosing invisible disabilities like mental health conditions and specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia and even autism spectrum conditions. People don't like to think of themselves as being ‘disabled’ even when they do fit the Equality Act definition of disability, but I would still encourage them to disclose.

We have done quite a bit of work here on improving access to mental health support and access to people to talk to across the university. The development of the Mental Health First Contact Network has been a huge positive. Remploy also came to speak to us about their Mental Health Support Service, working with individuals and employers to create support plans and put adjustments in place. Things like that make me feel confident that things are improving in terms of how we support staff.

I haven't felt that I've been discriminated against because of my gender. I don't know whether, in a way, it's been a protective characteristic ‘top trumps’ for me - perhaps my disability has had more of an impact on my opportunities to progress in the past. I don’t allow it to hold me back though and I’ve been fortunate to be part of a number of different outside stakeholder groups and networks which are linked to my work, such as the National Association of Student Money Advisers. For almost ten years, I was also part of the disabled student stakeholder group for Student Finance England and Wales. Seeing women leaders within other organisations and professional networks that I’ve been part of, has certainly inspired me to do more alongside my job and take on these additional roles.

Outside work I recently became the first woman in the UK to run a half-marathon on a RaceRunner frame. I did two half marathons last year - I set the record in May and broke it in October.  It was really good fun. I like to get out and run and just raise awareness that even if you happen to be a wheelchair user, you can still get out and exercise.” - Mo Onyett, Student Adviser, Student Hub

Vicky

“I work in the Systems team in IT and we look after things like virtual machines and file stores - basically we’re like the plumbers of IT as we keep everything running behind the scenes. I was always interested in IT growing up but we didn’t have computers at home and I thought that to work in the field you had to be really good at maths (which I wasn’t). I ended up studying History at university which I loved and got a job working in the Library which I really enjoyed. After getting the opportunity to work on the IT helpdesk as part of my role, I gained more knowledge and skills in this area and that led me to this job.

The field can be quite male-dominated but there are some initiatives out there which are trying to address and improve gender balance. On campus we have a Gender Equality in Tech group which is really good as both men and women are involved. It started as something for IT and Library staff but it’s open to everyone. And city-wide there’s a Women in Tech group which was established in 2018. I went to the very first Women in Tech session, which was in a little pub in the city centre. It was absolutely packed full of women who were excited about IT and it’s continued to grow. I think that it is really important that all genders are welcome in these groups - not just women. In industries and areas where men tend to hold the positions of power, it’s vital that they are part of the conversation. I think it's important to have champions who will help make changes by listening and offering support.

It’s quite hard sometimes when you go to technology conferences and there are hardly any women there. If you’re the only woman in the room sometimes you’re made to feel like you have to represent your entire gender and it’s your responsibility to improve things for everyone. That can be tough and it can put you off wanting to get involved, but I know that if I stop going there might not be any women at these events and that would be worse.

I sometimes hear women in IT roles saying “I’m not a very technical person” and then they go on to describe how technical their job is. I don’t think that this idea of ‘impostor syndrome’ is necessarily exclusive to women, but I think it can be more common for women to feel like maybe they shouldn’t be somewhere, or they got a role due to circumstance, rather than skill. Sometimes I feel like that but in my team everyone is really supportive and encouraging. My manager put me forward for a degree apprenticeship in digital and technology solutions - that was awesome because I would never have put myself forward for that. It’s hard work doing it alongside my job but it's teaching me the fundamentals and that’s giving me that extra confidence boost. 

In terms of role models, I’ve been really inspired by Sarah Kennedy, who's head of Desktop and Printing here at York. When I worked on the IT helpdesk she was the manager there and she’s been so supportive. She works incredibly hard and is really approachable - she listens without judgement when I need help or have a problem. She's just a good all-rounder – I would love to be the same kind of role model that she is.

I think attitudes around gender equality are changing and there are fewer barriers than there once were, but there are still barriers out there. We need to keep having conversations about it and making sure we're including everyone. You don’t always see massive change overnight, we have to make small steps, but I do think we are making these steps and we need to keep moving forward and working together on it.” - Vicky Wilkie, Systems Support Specialist, IT Services

Sarah

“My role is split between delivery - things like Springboard, leadership management, resilience training - and time working with teams on bespoke development. I also look after a few projects that are central to learning such as apprenticeships and accreditation. It's quite a busy role but it’s also varied and I get to use so many different skills. Over the years I’ve had lots of different jobs from working in a finishing school to managing a floor in a bookshop! After retraining to be a teacher I found a job in learning and development and I’ve been working in this field and sector ever since. 

The Springboard programme is not a massive part of what I do, but it's one of my favourite things. I'd heard about it quite a few years before I actually got to the accreditation stage and I love the fact that it’s so positive. The one thing that participants on the programme have in common is that they're women or they're living as women. That's it. It’s designed to help individuals identify their strengths, and make sure that they're able to use them in their roles at work as well as their everyday lives. It’s future-focused, because everyone is thinking about what they want to do differently and changes they want to make. It's a great environment because everyone is there to support each other. They will challenge each other, but it's done constructively, in a safe space. 

You can see the impact of Springboard on the participants pretty much immediately from the end of day one. At this point they have grown their own network of contacts on campus by 25 or so people from a range of roles and departments, and I see them develop as they continue through the programme. It’s amazing to see them using that confidence and support to improve their lives in a positive way. I think it's really powerful and it's an absolute honour to be part of the programme.

Springboard is huge internationally - lots of countries are involved from Armenia to Yemen, New Zealand to Malta. There are very few countries or continents that it's not available in. It’s a programme that has been undertaken by about a third of a million women across the world so far, and that’s amazing.

As a university our inclusive community is at the heart of what we do. I think it's massively important that Springboard exists and is available here, because it contributes to that. For women there are many different aspects of inclusivity and there are groups that will offer that, but this is a programme that is just for women and that’s vital.

Research around the gender pay gap has highlighted that some women are not paid at the same rate as men, for the same jobs. There's a reason for that and it's not about ability or competence or performance. Some of it is down to lack of opportunity and some of it is down to confidence. Springboard is here to try to redress the balance.

Similar programmes for men also exist. The Navigator programme is exclusively for men for instance, but it isn’t something that’s been run here yet because we haven't had the demand. Programmes for men differ to Springboard due to different developmental needs for men and women. For instance they may focus less on building confidence but more around setting objectives. 

I think in general anything where you're getting a group of people together and helping them to build their own networks and become more assertive is really impactful. Springboard’s protected space means that individuals can learn and flourish, and build that confidence so that they can use it in the wider world. Programmes like Springboard are key to this.” - Sarah Farrell, Development Partner (People and Organisation)