Abstract
The SiS (Sex in Science) Programme on the WGC (Wellcome Genome Campus) was established in 2011. Key participants include the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, EMB-EBI (EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute), Open Targets and Elixir. The key objectives are to catalyse cultural change, develop partnerships, communicate activities and champion our women in science work at a national and international level (http://www.sanger.ac.uk/about/sex-science). In this paper, we highlight some of the many initiatives that have taken place since 2013, to address gender inequality at the highest levels; the challenges we have faced and how we have overcome these, and the future direction of travel.
Highlights
The attrition of women along the academic career-path is a well-documented phenomenon, and similar to other STEM disciplines
Fifty-five per cent of Post-Doctoral Fellows are women, with women making up only 17% of Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (WTSI) senior scientific leadership roles (‘Faculty’)
We note that female representation is nationally low at these
Summary
The attrition of women along the academic career-path is a well-documented phenomenon, and similar to other STEM disciplines. In the Biological Sciences, there are 61% women at the Ph.D. level, which drops to 18% women at the professorial level [1]. Some 55% of Ph.D. students at WTSI are female (students include wet lab scientists, mathematical and computational scientists, these disciplines having different gender profiles nationally – 38% female in the Mathematical Sciences and 17% female in Computer Science [2]). Fifty-five per cent of Post-Doctoral Fellows are women, with women making up only 17% of WTSI senior scientific leadership roles (‘Faculty’). The paucity of women in senior leadership positions is an area that we are committed to addressing. In the UK, women who work full time earn 17% less than men based on mean hourly earnings (http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.hmtreasury.gov.uk/d/robertsreview_introch1.pdf)
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