From the archive: Women scientists in psychology – time for action

It is ten years since the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (CBU) in Cambridge hosted a symposium that celebrated established women psychologists who had been associated with the CBU at some point in their careers. The aim was to raise awareness of issues that could hinder, or indeed help, women's careers. 

Themes from the day formed the basis of our article (with Dorothy Bishop) in the December 2014 issue of The Psychologist, including the impacts of family life and societal expectations on women's progress; the benefits of role models at later career stages; the importance of support from friends and colleagues, departments, universities, and funding bodies; the potential for payback from undertaking roles of responsibility before feeling entirely ready to do so; and a special role for psychology, via unconscious bias, in improving the status quo.

Ten years on, these remain key areas in equality-focused efforts for women in science. On the plus side, many are now embedded in departmental or institutional structures. For instance, many universities host mentoring schemes; performance appraisals and funding bodies ask explicitly about important (but time-consuming) EDI contributions; EDI-focused seminars or workshops are often scheduled as termly or annual fixtures; flexible working arrangements are much more common than they were; and many institutions collect, review, and carefully consider their data through the Athena Swan framework. 

Relevant to psychology, many UK universities now require staff to undergo regular unconscious bias and EDI training, though debate continues over the extent to which the training is effective. EDI efforts have also increasingly moved in a positive and much-needed direction, focusing on the intersection between gender, race, and other protected characteristics.

But to what extent do such initiatives translate into real change in key indicators – in hiring, representation of women at different career stages, promotion, and pay? It is difficult to say (see June Gruber and colleagues on 'The Future of Women in Psychological Science'). On the one hand, the UK Civil Service dropped unconscious bias training for its staff following the publication of an Equality and Human Rights Commission report, led by psychologist Doyin Atewologun, that found limited evidence for changes in behaviour following training, and even potential detrimental effects. The leaky pipeline is also still the norm in many institutions and disciplines.

On the other hand, there are plenty of examples of positive change to report. In 2014, the MRC CBU had no women scientists working above the post-doctoral level, whereas 5 of its 15 programme leaders are now women. Over the same duration, the percentage of Cambridge women academic staff (across disciplines and seniority levels) has increased from 28.0 per cent to 36.7 per cent, and the mean gender pay gap has reduced from 20.1 per cent to 15.3 per cent at Cambridge, and from 21 per cent to 14.4 per cent at Sussex. 

Cambridge also currently has a woman as Vice-Chancellor – Professor Deborah Prentice, who just happens to be a psychologist with a specialty in social norms, unwritten rules and conventions, and human behaviour. At the University of Sussex, also led by a woman Vice-Chancellor – Professor Sasha Roseneil – support for women and non-binary staff has expanded from carer support and flexible working to menopause policies. Furthermore, in response to the disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on the productivity of carers, research funders and appraisal procedures routinely take these effects into account when evaluating research proposals and staff.

All these are positive signs that things are moving in the right direction. There is still much to do, however. Changing the status quo demands persistent effort and diligence, considerable patience, and the support of all genders.

Fionnuala C. Murphy, MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge
Natasha Sigala, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex