When the Internet began to take shape as we know it today in the 1980s, a wave of optimism spread about what this new network of networks could mean as a global and open technological revolution . It was no wonder: it allowed communication between people living thousands of kilometers away, almost unlimited access to knowledge, new […] … learn more→

Last week, the Australian Research Council (ARC) released their Gender and the Research Workforce report. While it appropriately positions the need for direct action in providing support to increase the national participation rates of female researchers, there’s an entire group of researchers missing from the analysis, graphs, and the resolutions of gender parity announced on the 10th of October […] … learn more→

I spent some of my time off around New Year attempting to start as I mean to go on by tidying my “home office”. In the run-up to Christmas, as exhaustion took over and time ran out, I had increasingly just been dumping piles of paper precariously on the edge of my desk as I […] … learn more→

Many science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) areas now show a gender parity – women earn about half of the undergraduate degrees in biology, chemistry and mathematics. This, however, is not true of all STEM areas – women earn fewer than one out of every five of the undergraduate degrees in computer science and engineering. […] … learn more→

“I bumped into my supervisor on the stairs when I was with X [my fellow postdoc]. I might as well have been invisible, he didn’t address a word to me. It really hurt.” So wrote a young female postdoc during an extremely miserable couple of years working in the USA. I came across these words […] … learn more→

genderThe importance of treating women well Valerie M. Hudson, Texas A&M University As an American woman, I am proud to tell my sons and daughters that for the first time in U.S. history a woman is the presidential nominee of one of the two major political parties in the country. And though I have some […] … learn more→

“She may be a small person, but she has big ideas,” states the panel chair by way of introducing one of the most impressive senior scholars in security studies. At a recent conference, a more junior panellist’s contribution is prefaced with the chair’s observation: “It is hard to believe that such a fragile woman should […] … learn more→

Last week North Carolina became the first state to pass a law requiring transgender individuals (including students) to use only bathrooms that match their biological (rather than identified) gender. They did so in response to an ordinance passed in Charlotte that supported transgender bathroom choice. Transgender students’ access to bathrooms is an increasingly active front […] … learn more→

I have missed the deadline now. It did look to be a great opportunity, but…. Do I feel disappointed? Yes, absolutely, and for so many reasons. Did I make the right decision? I think so, at least it was the decision I felt I had to make. Has it impacted on my career? Well, it’s […] … learn more→

I was asked recently to talk to some early career researchers about the challenges of being female in academia. At first, all I could think of was my privileged race, class, nationality and sexuality. Yet many of the gains for women in academia have only been recent and we still lag behind in pay. Women […] … learn more→