What are the aims of The female Scientist?
Background
In the media, which strongly influences the public image of a certain group, mostly male experts are questioned on a wide variety of topics – unless it is about supposedly women’s subjects such as fashion, gossip, children, and beauty. Women rarely appear in the public academic elite, and are often perceived as a peculiarity – they must have behaved like men, have no children and sacrificed their private life for their career.
The public image also determines the career path young women consider as possible and desirable for themselves. Obviously, this is a vicious circle. Since female researchers are often not as present in the public as their male colleagues, their abilities are often underestimated, and they are taken less seriously as scientists – which often is hindering their career. Furthermore, young girls do not perceive that being a scientist is a realistic profession for them, often believing that this career option requires superhuman skills, a special background or sacrificing private life and femininity, and thus choose a career in science less frequently.
We decided to change this! But, how?
The female Scientist will fill the gap between scientific papers, which are mostly inaccessible and difficult to understand to the general public, scientific networks only accessible to researchers, and real-life issues of woman in science. The female Scientist wants to draw a realistic picture of the female research landscape and build a community of ambitious and career-interested female researchers in order to make female scientists more visible to the public, simplify networking, inspire them and young potential female researchers and accompany them on their way. Worldwide!
Our aims:
- We aim to promote young female researchers by increasing the overall public presence of female scientists. Furthermore, we want to correct classic stereotypes by presenting “real” female scientists – in which areas do female scientists work? What have they achieved? What type of people are these women? What are they interested in?
- We aim to support female scientists by means of an increased media presence, including easy access to their achievements and research and by increasing the networking between them. We also aim to cover more personal topics, which convey a realistic picture of researchers thoughts and problems, and thus also contribute to the personal welfare of researchers.
- By acting worldwide we aim to especially strengthen female researchers from developing countries and make their work and problems visible to the public.
To make this work, we need YOU! Get involved!
If you have got further questions, comments, thoughts asf. – please contact us: contact@thefemalescientist.com