Role models
In the lecture, LTH’s and Lund University’s first Nobel Laureate Anne L’Huillier is put forth as a prime example of a role model and source of inspiration, no matter gender. However, you cannot overlook the fact that a female laureate in a male-dominated field – the fifth woman ever to be awarded the prize in physics – matters to other women and underrepresented groups. “Seeing is believing”, say the lecturers.
Why are role models so important?
One of the lecturers is former Lise Meitner professor Margret Bauer, Professor of Process Automation at the University of Applied Sciences Hamburg (HAW). During her nine years within industry, she had only one meeting with a woman, and that was Charlotta Johnsson. Sharing a screenshot from her LinkedIn with pictures of groups of smiling engineers, Bauer says:
– This is the world of process automation. They are all lovely colleagues, but they’re all men.
Eva Westin, who is the Administrative Manager at Automatic Control with a PhD in French linguistics, emphasises the importance of a diverse workforce in academia in general. She points out that gender balance in the technical and administrative part (TA) of the university world is the opposite, with women constituting a majority:
– This is something to think about, as gender balance within administration is important too. Homogeneity leads to overlooking the needs of everyone.
Some would say that we should not focus so much on gender – all that matters is excellence. By laying out the numbers, Charlotta Johnsson, Professor of Automatic Control and Dean at Campus Helsingborg, shows that progress has indeed been made. However, the numbers speak for themselves:
– The field of automatic control in Sweden is now 75 years old. The first PhD thesis written by a woman is from 1983, that is 42 years ago. Today, 35 percent of the master graduates are women, 12 percent of PhD theses were written by women, and around six percent of the professors are female. Automatic Control should be for everyone and developed by everyone. In order to reach excellency, we need to focus also on the gender issues, says Charlotta Johnsson.
The lecturers’ own role models
The role models of Charlotta Johnsson are, among others, her father Thomas Johnsson and Carolyn Beck. Her father worked with airplanes and introduced Charlotta Johnsson to science and the field of Automatic Control. He spoke passionately about technology and encouraged his daughter to pursue her interests.
Charlotta Johnsson met Carolyn Beck in the 1990s, while Beck did her postdoc at the Department of Automatic Control at LTH where they shared office. Meeting a female senior in the field was important since it showed Charlotta Johnsson that this is a possible line of work for women.
One of Eva Westin’s role models is her mother – “90 years old and still going strong”. Two others are Cecilia Uddén, the Swedish radio foreign correspondent, and Karl Johan Åström, founder of the Department of Automatic Control at LTH. What these three have in common, according to Eva Westin, is their never-ending curiosity, inventiveness, sense of humour and empathy.
One role model of Margret Bauer is her grandmother, “who never left the village but remained curious about everything and everyone”. Another is Nina Thornhill, professor at Imperial College in London and one of the women included in the project Historical Female Influencers in Automatic Control (Automatic Control's website).
Panel discussion on role models
After the lecture, as the panel members get seated, the people in the audience are asked about role models via their phones. Most say they had one or several role models in life. Personal qualities that they associate with role models form a word cloud on the screen behind the panel – words like empathy, curiosity, encouragement and inspiration.
Looking up at the word cloud, Laura Giese says that some qualities are often overlooked, and highlights “kind” and “humble”, and being able to keep a healthy family-work-balance.
– The important thing today is not so much if you’re a woman or not, but that you’re able to find role models that you can identify with.
Knut Deppert focusses on the word “encouraging”, sharing a story of how he was very interested in biology in school, but that his teacher failed to encourage him to pursue this interest.
– To go for a career in science, the thing both men and women need is encouragement, he says.
Jessica Abbott says that negative role models can be equally important. A negative example can make you think again before entering a particular field.
– For me as a young researcher, it was more about if I as a person would feel at home in the university world with professors and everything. You need to see people who lead by example, showing you that it is okey to be as you are.
There are also stereotypes of what a star in the STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) should be, says Laura Giese:
– To become a computer scientist, the cliché is that you should’ve been a data nerd all your life.
– Yes, and the equivalent in my field would be that you should’ve been a bird watcher all your life, Jessica Abbot adds.
Per Runeson says that it was only in hindsight that he realised he had role models:
– My grandmother was a teacher only because the law changed to allow also married teachers around 1920. I believe she was one of the first working mothers in the country.
Can it be a burden to be a role model, if it comes with too high expectations?
– I think it’s important to have a range of role models. If there’s only one female professor to look up to, what if she 's not the type of person you want to strive to be? says Laura Giese.
Jessica Abbott concludes the panel talk:
– Being a role model isn’t necessarily a burden, but as a public person, and Head of department, and so on, you must always think about what you say.