Twenty-First Century Minerva: Are there career impacts for women who receive a “Women in Science” Fellowship?

View/ Open
Author(s)
Weir, Patricia
Leach, Joan
Gamble, Jennifer
Creedy, Debra
Year published
2014
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This exploratory study examined the impact of an international award on women scientists’ careers. Participants were a group of elite young women scientists at the start of their careers in a diverse range of disciplines, who had received a L’Oréal Australia: For Women in Science International Fellowship. Open-ended interview questions explored participants’ perceptions of their careers following the Fellowship and of their identity as women scientists. Results indicate that the award was vital to the self-confidence and identity of women scientists establishing and consolidating their careers. Other factors, such as having ...
View more >This exploratory study examined the impact of an international award on women scientists’ careers. Participants were a group of elite young women scientists at the start of their careers in a diverse range of disciplines, who had received a L’Oréal Australia: For Women in Science International Fellowship. Open-ended interview questions explored participants’ perceptions of their careers following the Fellowship and of their identity as women scientists. Results indicate that the award was vital to the self-confidence and identity of women scientists establishing and consolidating their careers. Other factors, such as having children and workplace culture, had a negative impact on their career progression and confidence in pursuing a science career. Policy implications relating to institutional culture and the need for flexibility regarding child-rearing are discussed, as well as the importance of women-only awards to career progression.
View less >
View more >This exploratory study examined the impact of an international award on women scientists’ careers. Participants were a group of elite young women scientists at the start of their careers in a diverse range of disciplines, who had received a L’Oréal Australia: For Women in Science International Fellowship. Open-ended interview questions explored participants’ perceptions of their careers following the Fellowship and of their identity as women scientists. Results indicate that the award was vital to the self-confidence and identity of women scientists establishing and consolidating their careers. Other factors, such as having children and workplace culture, had a negative impact on their career progression and confidence in pursuing a science career. Policy implications relating to institutional culture and the need for flexibility regarding child-rearing are discussed, as well as the importance of women-only awards to career progression.
View less >
Journal Title
International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology
Volume
6
Issue
2
Publisher URI
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2014. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Subject
Nursing not elsewhere classified