To celebrate International Women’s day, LEC Voices presents Dr Suzi Ilic, Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography and the Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) EDI Lead.

International Women’s Day (IWD), which is celebrated on 8 March, gives me the opportunity to reflect on my journey in academia and the progress made towards gender equality. International Women's Day was established by the UN in 1975 and officially recognised by the UN General Assembly two years later. However, its origins date back to the women’s rights movement at the turn of the 20th century and is associated with a famous protest by female textile workers in Russia on 8 March 1917. After the Second World War, 8 March was celebrated as IWD in many new socialist states, including the socialist former Yugoslavia, where I grew up.

My earliest memories of IWD go back to my school days, when we prepared small gifts for our mothers in art class. Back then, Mother's Day was part of IWD. Women in the workplace received flowers from their male colleagues and were invited to celebratory lunches and outings. While many women appreciated the IWD celebrations, others – particularly independent feminist groups - felt that more needed to be done to achieve true gender equality. Despite advances in the workplace, such as participation in 'self-management' of companies, housework and caring responsibilities remained largely the duties of women.

My education shaped my early experiences and understanding of equality. Throughout my school years, I felt that we girls had the same rights and opportunities as boys. Although we were equally supported and encouraged by our teachers in STEM subjects, fewer girls opted for these subjects in secondary school (ages 14-18). I was one of only four girls in my class who studied maths, physics and computer science in the last two years of secondary school. Despite this, I never felt “out of place” and enjoyed solving maths and physics problems with my male classmates. I decided to study civil engineering at university. For a change, the gender ratio in my class was roughly even. I made friends with a group of female colleagues, and we still support each other even though we live on different continents.

After graduation, many of us joined male-dominated construction companies, facing and challenging stereotypes. I worked on construction sites and supervised water engineering works. Here I broke the stereotype; a woman and a junior engineer oversaw more experienced male site managers. It was a challenge at first, but with the great support of my line manager and the director (both men), I gained respect and credibility.

Five years into my career, I was ready to move on. I was awarded a Dutch scholarship for postgraduate studies and spent the next two years studying computational hydraulics in the Netherlands. These two years had a significant impact on my academic career and broadened my cultural perspectives. There I studied alongside students from all continents and from different backgrounds in terms of culture, ethnicity, gender, religion and sexual orientation. This gave me invaluable insights that continue to shape my work in the field of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).

My doctoral studies and subsequent research career in the UK have been mainly in the field of coastal engineering and coastal science, areas dominated by male researchers. In some conferences and research consortia I was often the only woman, but there were always plenty of supportive colleagues. When I started at Lancaster University, there were only six women academics in the three departments that now make up the Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC). We served on many committees and panels representing our gender, taking lots of our time for other activities. Since then, things have changed for the better and we have more women academics who in turn support the next generation of female academics. I believe that initiatives such as the Athena Swan Charter have helped to highlight and address gender inequalities in science.

However, challenges remain and not everyone has benefited equally from these initiatives. Although we have come a long way in terms of gender equality, we often forget to work on equity and tend to simplify issues related to women in the workforce. We often overlook the numerous factors behind gender differences in academia, such as intersectionality, parental leave, caring responsibilities, housework, psychological and health issues related to menstruation and menopause, and even different career priorities for men and women.

Despite these challenges, women are taking leadership roles and making changes. When I reflect on the past year, I think of a “women’s year”. For the first time in my career, I have worked with more women than men and I have worked with many wonderful women at the University, including the EDI committees, on the research projects, on the coastal groups and on the regional flood and coastal committee and in the local communities. All these women, from academics to artists, from students to professionals, are committed to improving their environment and helping society.

As we celebrate the IWD, we should recognise the contributions of colleagues of all genders, for the achievements to date, but also for the fact that there is still more to do.

Related Blogs

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  STEMMing the Leaky Pipeline: In conversation with the women of the Faculty of Science and Technology for International Women’s Day

• 

  LEC Voices presents Dr Emma Cardwell, Lecturer in Human Geography and Director of Studies for 3rd Year Geography Students.

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  LEC Voices presents Dr Jackie Pates, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science and LEC Undergraduate Programme Director.

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