26/02/2004Early Stage Researcher Mobility1 Gendering research institutions: gender discrimination and work-life balance Marcela Linkova Institute of Sociology, Academy of Sciences CR National Contact Centre – Women and Science

26/02/2004Early Stage Researcher Mobility2 work-life balance To have or not to have, that is the question. We went to the Baltic Sea then and had my first laptop. I got up at five in the morning when everybody was asleep and wrote until 9 am when people starting getting up. Then we went to the beach, swam in the sea, sunbathed (and I also slept). In the evening we played cards and after everyone went to sleep, I went back to my work. By the time we went home, I had my [doctoral] thesis ready…Its just a matter of organisation. (Prof. Blanka Rihova)

26/02/2004Early Stage Researcher Mobility3 macro-level: the institutional arrangement the myth of a scientific career –the idea that a scientific career is uninterrupted and straightforward masculine, androcentric science –feminist epistemologies have shown that science is constructed upon masculine values, including the experience of time and space work-life balance thus not traditionally seen as an issue in science

26/02/2004Early Stage Researcher Mobility4 micro-level: individual biographical planning secondary socialisation –learn how the institution works and what types of behaviours are acceptable –learn the symbolic order on which the institution is constructed (in some Czech research institutions women scientists learn not to talk about children and family) individual biographical planning –gendered –influenced by secondary socialisation (horizon for planning)

26/02/2004Early Stage Researcher Mobility5 Young Scientists workshop: background information organised by European Commission and National Contact Centre – Women and Science under the ENWISE project questionnaires distributed among participants before workshop (MCF, brain drain, gender issues and equal opportunities, prestige of science and the age gap) CEE countries: –historically, state-imposed feminism under communism –after 1989 many work-life balance measures abolished –today, equal opportunities legislation in place (EU accession) –rigid division of roles still in place (gender contract based on the idea of complementarity of womens and mens roles)

26/02/2004Early Stage Researcher Mobility6 Young Scientists workshop: questionnaire results The perception whether there are obstacles to a womens career development is very gendered. While six out of nine young women responded that there were obstacles, only three out of ten young men thought so. When asked whether men and women enjoy equal opportunities in education and employment, nine out of ten young men responded YES, while only five out of nine young women thought so.

26/02/2004Early Stage Researcher Mobility7 I dont think that there are particular problems. More or less the same as everywhere - the dilemma between family and a very successful career, which is represented by the unequal gender ratio at e.g. professor level. male, age: 28, project manager, natural sciences, Latvia I think that there is no problem particular to my country, just the usual: reconciliation of work and family, insufficient motivation and persistence, lesser visibility, paternalism, the culture i.e. style of work or sexist language. female, age: 30, social sciences, Poland The responsibility for the household and the childcare is still considered to be a womens affair – women have many problems with conciliating their scientific carriers and family. female, age: 26, social sciences, Czech

26/02/2004Early Stage Researcher Mobility8 As I am from the generation who got married at a younger age and also had children before getting 30, I could say this sometimes can slow down or even stop some female scientific careers. Not always, but still very often, it is the woman responsible for most of the things connected to children---running to the kindergarten in the evening, staying home when a child is sick, etc. Its easier to plan long experiments or some field-work with people who dont have such problems. Those who are 25 years old know seem to become more western-type-people - getting married later, having their children later, in science probably meaning after having a PhD. Lets see if their scientific careers will be more successful! female, age: 36, medical sciences, Estonia

26/02/2004Early Stage Researcher Mobility9 1.A family is still invisible in science although it greatly affects womens chances of succeeding. 2.Although being a great personal reward, having a family is still a barrier to womens progress through the scientific hierarchy. 3.This is something that women in the scientific institution learn to internalise and view as their own problem.

26/02/2004Early Stage Researcher Mobility10 action 1.introduce work-life balance measures 2.examine the lessons feminist epistemologies teach us to gain a better understanding of how research institutions are structured and how this structuring has a different impact on womens and mens careers in science