Patricia Muller: Breaking Barriers in Science – Why Gender Shouldn’t Matter
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Whenever I get asked to participate in a ‘women in science’ event, I get a little bit anxious. I am a woman, I do science, so why do I feel uncomfortable? More than 10 years ago I was asked to give a talk at a prestigious ‘women in science’ event. I was young, naïve and just started in my lab as junior group leader. I was honoured and presented my work with pride. Instead of some encouraging words, I felt an underwhelming enthusiasm for my work, and couldn’t figure out why. I discussed this afterwards and one of the women said that “it wasn’t surprising as I wasn’t exactly a prototype woman”. She went on explaining that because I don’t have children I have it easier than most other women and also have an advantage over men. I can use the gender gap to wiggle my way up, so to speak.
For years I have felt guilty and felt worried I had received my Henry Dale Fellowship at the cost of better men not getting it. Was I just an intruder in the field, not good enough to become an independent scientist? I can see many outstanding female scientists struggle to work the system and to my dismay I have seen many fail, especially if they don’t have a strong support network surrounding them. Again, I felt guilty, I can spend more time on research because I don’t have children. And let’s face it, an actual workday for a scientist is seldom 9-5. At times I almost felt I had to justify the reason I don’t have children. Yet, all I want to do is good science, inspire people and be respected by others for the research I do as a scientist, not necessarily as a woman in science. And on top of that, womanhood is not defined by motherhood.
Was I just an intruder in the field, not good enough to become an independent scientist?
The number of assistant, associate and full professors in almost any science department is still substantially skewed towards men. The reasons for this are aplenty, ranging from inequality around parental care duties to perceptions that women are less likely to be ambitious or aggressive in getting leader positions and if you are, you can often be seen as a nasty person. At Durham, it’s great to see so many initiatives for staff and students to help re-balance this skew and encourage more women into science. This includes, to name but a few, the Women in Engineering Group, DUWIT and the Women@DU Network.
I know many of these problems take time and more than one person to change, but what I can do is try and stand up and be a role model. Not just for women in science (with or without children), but hopefully for everyone independent of ethnicity, race or beliefs, who just wants to be scientist and be respected for their work.
We should all be pushing against any barriers that exist and support each other’s right to be respected as scientists and people. I therefore agreed to write this blog as people like me should speak up on what challenges and fears they face.
Everyone independent of ethnicity, race or beliefs, who just wants to be scientist and be respected for their work.
At Durham, we have an institutional Athena Swan Bronze Award . Many departments hold their own Awards at Bronze and Silver level and I was very happy to see Biosciences being awarded the Silver Award in November 2024. This demonstrates the institution’s and departmental commitment to gender equality across all areas,
Personally, I’m grateful to have been given the opportunity to start two large senior roles in the Department of Biosciences. I will be Deputy Director of Research and course lead for the new MSc Biotechnology, which I was instrumental in developing.
As Deputy Director of Research, I will be responsible to write the statement for People, Culture and Environment for REF2029. It will be important to show how people interact with each other to create the best environment and research culture that is needed to achieve top quality research.
With the help of many others, I’m excited to present our new taught Masters programme, the MSc Biotechnology, that will start in October 2025. Where better to start than to teach these values to our upcoming future scientists and to be a role model and show we need to value each other and the work we do. Our MSc Biotechnology is a research-led degree in which students get a thorough, practical experience in Biotechnology. It’s taught by a diverse group of academics and teaching staff ranging from assistant professors to full professors. Students have the opportunity to experience how to set up a new business, visit industries and learn about the latest advances in the field and become our future scientists, grant advisors and industrial partners.
Who knows which great female leaders we might nurture in this course.
Find out more
- Learn more about the MSc Biotechnology programme at Durham
- Find out about how we are marking International Women’s Day
- Explore our institutional Athena Swan Bronze Award
- Get involved with Women@DU