Elizabeth Jones, the very respected head of our department passed away about a month back, due to complications arising from an abdominal surgery. When I heard the news, I was saddened but only for a brief while...it's the kind of grief you feel when you hear such news about people you were never close to, but you saw almost on a daily basis. I knew my life would go on and that I soon return to the world where experiments and publications hold centre stage. I'm a fifth year graduate student...thinking about graduation is taking a considerable amount of my mental space currently. And I'm beginning to wonder about what I need to do next.
As I think about my immediate concerns, one of the things I've realised is that as a woman in science I now have an array of options that are available to me. And one of the most important options available to me is that I can continue to pursue a scientific career without compromising on my desire to have a family. Women in science are being increasingly encouraged to believe that they can indeed have it all. Having it all was not an option for the women of Dr. Jones' generation. You could have a successful scientific career or the family life of your dreams...one or the other, not both. While there was certainly support provided to Dr. Jones when she embarked on her career as a scientist, the fact remained that science was and still is, to an extent, dominated by men. And in order to succeed and prove that she was just as good as any man, Dr. Jones chose to pursue her career over any desire she might have had to have a family. While I heard that she always regretted having to make that decision, the fact remains that she did prove herself to be one of the greatest scientists and teachers of her generation. The more women scientists there were in the picture, the greater the chances that problems unique to women researchers would get addressed. It is the result of such incredible sacrifices by women like Dr. Jones that women in science today have the confidence to believe that they can balance work and family.
I never knew Dr. Jones personally...my interactions with her were limited to greetings on the elevator and the one car ride I had with her. But as I plan for my future, I feel an immense amount of gratitude for her and other women of her generation who made tough decisions for themselves, but in doing so have opened many doors of possibilites for the rest of us.As I think about my immediate concerns, one of the things I've realised is that as a woman in science I now have an array of options that are available to me. And one of the most important options available to me is that I can continue to pursue a scientific career without compromising on my desire to have a family. Women in science are being increasingly encouraged to believe that they can indeed have it all. Having it all was not an option for the women of Dr. Jones' generation. You could have a successful scientific career or the family life of your dreams...one or the other, not both. While there was certainly support provided to Dr. Jones when she embarked on her career as a scientist, the fact remained that science was and still is, to an extent, dominated by men. And in order to succeed and prove that she was just as good as any man, Dr. Jones chose to pursue her career over any desire she might have had to have a family. While I heard that she always regretted having to make that decision, the fact remains that she did prove herself to be one of the greatest scientists and teachers of her generation. The more women scientists there were in the picture, the greater the chances that problems unique to women researchers would get addressed. It is the result of such incredible sacrifices by women like Dr. Jones that women in science today have the confidence to believe that they can balance work and family.
Thank you, Dr. Beth Jones!
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