A digital representation of a human head with DNA strands and a balance scale, symbolizing the intersection of genetics and justice. Generated with AI by Thanarat, Adobe Stock.
Today is the 10th International Day for Women and Girls in Science. The goal is to highlight the need to advance gender equality and celebrate diversity in science. UPSC has been striving for gender balance already since 2007 and has currently achieved it, but the work to create a more diverse, inclusive and equitable environment continues.
When UPSC began analysing gender balance in 2007, the leadership realised that while PhD students and postdocs were fairly balanced, this was not the case at the group leader level. To maintain the balance from the PhD and postdoc level, UPSC implemented a programme to specifically support newly appointed group leaders. The idea was to address the imbalance by offering attractive conditions that motivate all young researchers to become group leaders – a strategy that has proven successful.
“Our goal was to achieve a gender balance of 40-60% at all carrier levels, and we hoped that a balanced environment would motivate all genders to apply. We exercise special caution during recruitment processes to prevent any bias and focus on recruiting the best-qualified person for a position,” says Ove Nilsson, Director of UPSC. “The current challenge is to maintain gender balance.”
An unbiased recruitment process was one step towards a balanced and equitable work environment, but once recruited, people should also feel comfortable and safe at their workplace. To investigate the work environment at UPSC and identify areas for improvement, UPSC conducts an annual employer survey that considers, among other things, psychological safety in the workplace, discrimination and harassment.
“We started with the annual survey in 2021 because the triennial surveys from Umeå University and SLU were difficult to compare with each other and across different years. It also did not involve postdocs on scholarships at that time, which excluded almost half of our postdocs,” explains Johannes Hanson, Head of the Department of Plant Physiology at Umeå University, one of the two departments forming UPSC.
When asked if the “atmosphere in the workplace is suitable for everybody” considering gender, age, ethnicity, et cetera, about eighty percent of the UPSC staff who participated in the 2024 survey answered yes. Less than ten percent thought that “stereotypical gender roles, norms and beliefs were expressed in a way that can lead to discrimination”. About sixty percent answered that UPSC “works for greater gender equality” and only about ten percent thought that it is not or sometimes difficult “to combine work and parenthood”.
“These values are reassuring, especially as they have been quite stable over the last few years,” says Totte Niittylä, Head of the Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology at SLU, the other department that forms UPSC. “However, we have a zero-tolerance policy for any form of misbehaviour. Our results are much lower when compared to a Sweden-wide reference group, but they are not zero, showing that we cannot just lie back and relax. There is still more we can do to create a safe, diverse and inclusive work environment for everyone at UPSC.”
The purpose of the International Day for Women and Girls in Science is to empower women and girls in science, to achieve equality and close the gender gap. It was established in 2005 by the United Nations General Assembly and implemented by UNESCO and UN-Women. This year marks the tenth celebration, highlighting the theme “Unpacking STEM careers: Her Voice in Science”.