By Marianna Iliadou
Photo Credit: Pattaranun Chaisudhiphongskul
On Thursday 30 th May 2019 the GCP Seminar Series and SUCCESS team organised an event on career advice for women. We had the pleasure to host two speakers who shared their knowledge and personal experience with us.
The event kicked off with Dr Hannah Bows from Law School, Durham University, who presented the challenges women might face in the workplace. Dr Bows emphasised the structural and cultural challenges, while discussing the gender representation and pay gap in academia. She concluded her talk with the opportunities women could take to ‘fight back’ these challenges, including support networks within the university.
The floor was then handed to Dr Stephanie Scott from Business School, Durham University. Dr Scott shared her personal experience as a mother and a woman changing her career from industry to academia. In particular, she took as through her journey from a working mother in the private sector (USA) to a working mother in UK academia. Dr Scott ended her presentation by giving advice to the audience, following some points from the book ‘Lean In’ written by Sheryl Sandberg.
During the Q&A session, the discussion focused on what could be done at university level to ensure a more gender balanced representation in academia (e.g. include women’s work in the curriculum, combat the pay gap, confront male-only panels, etc.), the challenges of being a working mother, work-life balance tips, etc.
Special thanks to Dr Bows and Dr Scott for kindly accepting our invitation and to everyone who attended the event.