illuminating science

So Jenny (who had a couple of guest posts recently) has been shortlisted for the Queensland Smart Women - Smart State postgraduate award. There’s a presentation ceremony tonight at Parliament House where the winner will be announced - so best of luck!

I’m going to be a bit controversial now, though, and confess that I’ve always been a bit skeptical about “women in science” awards and what purpose they actually serve. First up, I actually think these awards are worthwhile. They really do have the purpose of promoting the idea that women are involved in science, and are doing great work just as much as the men in the field. The awards were quite widely advertised, and include a high school division, meaning that the girls who you want to encourage to do (or at least consider) science as a career get exposure.

Sure, they’re also rewarding the women who did the work, but if that was all there was to the award, then it would be a pretty stupid award - why should a woman get (or want?) money & recognition simply because she’s a woman? At school there was the Physics prize, and then the “Best female physicist” prize, sponsored by a local women’s organisation. I could never really understand that one. Surely everyone knows that there are girls in the physics class. So are they assuming that a girl can’t compete against the males in the physics class, and has no chance of winning the real award? (Because if she did, then she’d win both awards - and the second would seem quite superfluous.) I find it slightly irritating, but I think as a girl I would find it a little patronising. “Oh good, I received an award for being the best female physicist…”

I feel the same about scholarships for women at university. There are a ridiculous number of scholarships that are available only to women, and I just can’t see what purpose they serve - surely they’d be better going to whoever was most in need and deserving of them, whether male or female? Or (and I do think this deserves a separate scholarship pool) make them available to women who have taken time off from their careers to have (and care for) children. That’s where I think there is a real disadvantage (at least in terms of your career!) as a woman. These scholarships should help support a woman who is juggling study and children, and should encourage them to keep studying during that time. (Of course, you could argue that men migth benefit from that award as well, but there probably aren’t many stay-at-home dads out there, in reality. Though maybe that’s a good reason to offer scholarships, to encourage and make it easier for them to do it? Ideally, I would think it best if both parents worked part time, but that’s a different post )

Anyway, that’s my 2 cents. Fingers crossed for Jenny and the ceremony this evening!