Real challenges face women in science, and we must recognize and discuss them. And yet … when we focus on the challenges and publicly air these grievances, we can steal motivation from promising young women considering science careers.
To flip the script on that narrative, I recently started the Scientess podcast. On the show, I talk to women with successful science careers about how they did it, why they did it, and what they love about the work that they do. In the interviews, instead of focusing on the issues that keep women from going into scientific careers, I talk about what makes women wake up in the morning and head into the field or into the lab to make discoveries.
The motivation for this podcast stems from my own personal experiences. I am a Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington (UW) School of Public Health (although this podcast operates independently from my teaching and research roles at UW). I was lucky to have a mother who was a scientist and loved her research. She encouraged me to follow my passions. As I grew up, I did not feel a sense of limitation about what I could aim for or accomplish. Most of the trainees who I encounter do not have the benefit of that upbringing, and I am eager to find a way to provide broader access to the kind of positive messaging that I had as a child.
In Season 1, I interview some pretty incredible women scientists, and key themes emerge from these sessions. The women I’ve interviewed all tend to value nonhierarchical lab structures. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe (Episode 3) calls science a “team sport,” and Pat Conrad (Episode 4) talks about the importance of “team science” in making discoveries.
The women point to perseverance as a key trait in making it as a scientist: Rita Colwell (Episode 1) calls this “stubbornness”; Caroline Strömberg (Episode 6) describes it as “brute force”; Akiko Iwasaki (Episode 7) calls it “determination”; and Kemi Doll (Episode 8) refers to it as “leaving everything on the field.”
These impressive women also offer some life hacks. They all talk about hiring caretakers who provide external support for their families so they can get the work done. Sohini Ramachandran (Episode 6) explains how she cooks in the mornings so that she can get dinner on the table at a decent hour. Bobbi Peckarsky (Episode 2) talks about involving her entire family in her research endeavors. Many explain how they turned their “two body problem” into a“two body opportunity.”
Perhaps most importantly, the “scientesses” featured on the show discuss the importance of mentorship they’ve received along the way, as well as the obligation they feel to pay it forward to the next generation of young women coming up in science.
Many successful women can point to one or more mentors who inspired them to pursue their interests, believed in them, and/or helped them advance their careers. Yet not everyone has access to such a mentor. By sharing their success stories, the women featured on the Scientess podcast can serve as mentors for a broad audience, showing the many different paths to a scientific career.
My hope is that Scientess will show aspiring young women that a STEM career is not only possible but can also be extremely rewarding and fun.
Please tune in to have a listen, and share with your networks. You can listen on all major podcast platforms and find additional bonus content on our website, www.scientess.org or on Instagram with the tag @scientesspodcast.
Karen Levy, the host of Scientess, is a Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at University of Washington School of Public Health. She also holds adjunct appointments in the Department of Epidemiology and the Department of Global Health.
This article was originally published in AWIS Magazine. Join AWIS to access the full issue of AWIS Magazine and more member benefits.