Today marks International Women’s Day. With a theme of #balanceforbetter, it prompts important conversations about the major gender inequalities that exist across the world.
I am a researcher working in the field of multiple sclerosis (MS). Over the past 20 years MS research has led to major advances in treatment development. No other neurological condition has made such great strides and we’re on the cusp of major breakthroughs. It’s a fascinating and incredibly rewarding field to work in.
Counter to this amazing progress, however, science remains in the grip of gender inequality. Although things have improved since Rosalind Franklin was downgraded for her role in the discovery of DNA, there are still disparities in how genders are treated and perceived.
When you try to imagine a scientist or a neurologist, most of us think of an older male. This is not entirely unreasonable. Of the 900 or so consultant neurologists in the UK, only about 250 are women. The situation in research is similar, with women holding less than a third of all senior positions. This imbalance is even more pronounced in some countries.
Conferences can reflect this imbalance, with the same (male) faces appearing every year. A problematic approach – asking the same people to speak every time is hardly the best route to new ideas.
The speaker and workshop list for the UK MS Society’s MS Frontiers is refreshing, and hopefully a sign of things to come. It features an equal number of male and female invited speakers and workshop presenters. Making a conscious effort to invite new researchers, and researchers with a more diverse range of experiences, will hopefully result in a more innovative conference overall.
There are many reasons we don’t have enough senior women in science, but it isn’t to do with biology – an equal number of men and women train as neurologists and scientists. We know more women have career breaks to take care of family. But (much more problematically) they can also feel excluded in more subtle ways. If you can’t see women speaking at conferences, running their own labs, or leading investigations, it can be hard to understand how and where you fit in.
Increasing the number of women who stay in research and train as MS specialists is more important than ever. Over 100,000 people in the UK have MS and we desperately need more MS neurologists. People with MS can wait months, or even years, for a neurology appointment.
International women in MS (iWiMS) is a new initiative aimed at promoting gender equity and diversity in MS clinics and in research. The idea has grown from an informal meeting a year ago into a community with over 200 members in 25 countries. iWiMS aims to redress gender imbalance in our field through positive, proactive initiatives such as working with scientific organisations to increase the number of women and other gender minorities on conference panels, providing travel grants for women with small children to help them attend conferences, leadership training, and – perhaps most excitingly – encouraging new research collaborations between members. Our hope is that it will create links between junior and senior women, transgender and intersex individuals working in MS, giving them support and accessible role models. We have already created over 60 mentorship pairs and 30 peer sponsorship groups. And we believe that, by developing this community that inspires women and gender minorities early in their career, we can make a vital difference.
We are excited by the enthusiasm shown by our members, encourage others to join our movement, and hope we can encourage more women, transgender and intersex people to be leaders in their field.
For more information on the latest MS research visit mssociety.org.uk