I am extremely fortunate to be surrounded by so many wonderful, smart and successful women. It has always been my personal goal to learn from my peers and support my fellow Women in STEM because I truly believe that great things happen when you work together, instead of competing with each other.

In 2014 I met (my now very good friend) Femke Holwerda and realised right away that she was going to become a very important woman in my life.

Femke Holwerda received her Master of Science in Biogeology from the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, and is currently finishing up her PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology in Munich, Germany at the Bavarian State collections of Paleontology and Geology. Her main research interests include sauropods (yesssss girl!) and in particular, the early evolution of Gondwanan eusauropods. She also works on dentition (double yes! Can you tell this has been my research too?), including dental macro- and microwear, of fossil reptiles.

She also recently joined the board of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists (EAVP) and this one of the Executive Editors of the Journal of Paleontological Techniques.

Femke Holwerda living her best life (C) Femke Holwerda

So as you can see, Femke is a very busy woman, but she still takes valuable time out of her life to help establish women in palaeontology.

As young researchers, women face obstacles that I couldn’t have imagined when I was a young girl, dreaming about working with fossils one day. Recent research shows that even though women perform equally to their male peers, female students frequently report decreased self-confidence and increased anxiety, especially over issues related to their academic competence (Blanch et al. 2008). In higher education, women represent only around 35% of all students enrolled in science-related fields of study. Women leave STEM disciplines in disproportionate numbers during their higher education studies (UNESCO. 2017) and reports show that even though female representation in paleontological associations are close to 50% in terms of student members, professional memberships are disproportionally low relative to those of men. With regards to meeting participation, even though the number of abstracts with female authors has increased in recent years, women are still very underrepresented (Pimiento 2016). It certainly does not help that only 10% of the most cited papers in Paleobiology, Journal of Paleontology, Paleontology, and Paleo3, were led by a woman. No women led any of the 10 most cited papers in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. In geosciences, despite receiving 40% of doctoral degrees, women hold less than 10% of full professorial positions (Holmes et all. 2015) and if university officials don’t believe that we pay attention to this, they are wrong.

Femke certainly noticed and has been very active in the betterment of conditions for women in this field. In 2017, she started the EAVP Women in Paleontology Roundtable and Workshop for both women AND men that want to work toward equality and fair working conditions for everybody. The European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists was founded in 2003 and provides an annual meeting and international forum for information on new and ongoing research as well as existing work groups across all subfields of Vertebrate Palaeontology. A major focus is an international collaboration with great attention on encouragement and assistance for students to become part in projects and a source of future vertebrate palaeontologists. As a board member of EAVP, Femke used her (let us call it) “power” to draw attention to the still existing sexism and exclusion of female colleagues. And this is how the workshop “Addressing gender inequalities and stereotyping in Palaeontology and science in general” has come to life.

During the event, members will get a short introduction on gender disparity in STEM, backed by data from scientific studies (of course). This is followed by an open discussion about experiences and challenges by women in science that will be addressed, and propositions and objectives for the future will be discussed.

Femke Presenting Her Work (C) Tom Trapman

Recently, I had the chance to catch Femke in between projects to discuss her Women in Palaeontology Workshop.

When did your interest in palaeontology begin?

My interest in Palaeontology began with dinosaurs, and my passion for dinosaurs started when I was 3. My parents took my older brothers and me to a dinosaur exhibit in Leiden, The Netherlands, with dinosaur animatronics. I remember vividly how I walked in the room, unsuspecting, and then was suddenly terrified by these moving, stomping, growling dinos!! My father had to carry me out of the room screaming. However, the funny thing was, as soon as we were outside, I wanted to go back in. And again. And once more. I was hooked, and the interest never left me, even though everybody thought I would grow out of it!

What was it like to be a woman studying vertebrate palaeontology? Did you feel supported and challenged in a positive way? Did you have a network of people to reach out to?

Growing up I was the only girl I knew who wanted to be a Palaeontologist. This was more annoying than hard sometimes, as I didn’t have a kindred spirit to talk to. Even through high school and university, I was still the only girl I knew who was interested in Palaeo (even though I studied Biology and Biogeology, and you’d think some other palaeo’s would be around). My professors told me to give up; there aren’t enough jobs around. My timing was unlucky, I think, as I fell right into the palaeo hiatus at Utrecht University; before ‘my time’ there was a palaeo workgroup, and a couple years after me, that got revived, and now a lot of students are doing vertebrate palaeontology courses, guided research, and theses. My only good luck was that one professor had contacts in Argentina, and sent me, as a way of a double project, to Argentina, to Trelew, to work on dinosaurs there for my MSc thesis, while I would then do a project on dinoflagellates back in Utrecht. That’s how I got my network going because the palaeo group in Trelew is fabulous! They have an incredible fossil-rich area a few hours driving away and have recently dug up the largest dinosaur ever (Patagotitan). My supervisor Diego Pol there became my PhD co-supervisor, and I still work with him to this day. You can say my network started there, but it really started to branch out after I went on a fellowship to Lourinha, Portugal, and especially after I became an EAVP board member. So, a lot of work went into building my own network, something students nowadays in Utrecht can’t imagine. But it also taught me to reach out a lot, something I still profit from today.

Why do you think so many girls and women are still underrepresented in our area and professional field?

Ooff. It’s largely a combination of cultural stereotyping and bad working conditions for
young women in postdoctoral research positions. I’ll explain the cultural stereotyping first; go to any toy or department store, and tell me what the differences are between boys stuff and girls stuff. Most likely, you’ll see that there are clothing for girls in pink with cute slogans and for boys, there are dinosaur logo’s and ‘future scientist’ logos. It already starts when we’re kids; boys are (subconsciously or not) encouraged to be smart, and tough, and girls are encouraged to be cute and caring. There was a study not long ago, that kids as young as 6 already say that boys can be really smart, but girls can’t. This is unacceptable! We grow up with this in our head. ‘I’m a girl, so I shouldn’t be a scientist’ for instance, can go through a girl’s head. It infuriates me, but at least lately, people have started to become aware of this gender stereotyping, and that already is the first step to counteract this behaviour.

The bad working conditions for young postdoctoral researchers is another reason why young women drop out of science en masse; whilst up to PhD level, gender balance is pretty good. This is mostly because at the postdoctoral level, people start having families, and then there is often Zero accommodation for this at work, as this is mostly grant-based. Women unfortunately still bear the brunt of housework, because of that cultural stereotyping again (yep, really) where we’re drilled from a young age to know the housework, to plan for groceries, and to care for the kids. Many women get overworked and overloaded and end up quitting science. Finally, and personally, I also am becoming weary of the ‘boys club’, where the men in a research team draw together, and work together, excluding the women. This is luckily not at all the case everywhere, but it can be extremely toxic and eroding, especially if these ‘boys clubs’ start to generate papers together, whilst the women have to work doubly hard to get publications out, which are the main currency for grants nowadays. More research is needed, however, on how many women this behaviour affects, and how to stop it.

Women In Paleontology Workshop 2017 (C) Tom Trapman

What are we going to do to combat existing and past forms of discrimination?

I think awareness is the key word here. As soon as people are aware, they start to think
about their behaviour and about the situation. This is one of the reasons I set up the EAVP women in palaeo workshop. A recent TED talk I saw of the founder of #everydaysexism showed that women feel more supported by an invisible network, and dare to stand up more for themselves! Also, men realise more that women are in a worse position and will also try to help. So for example, both women and men will stand up for a colleague (or for themselves) if there is discriminatory behaviour going on in a meeting. A more aggressive approach is something that Professor Maria McNamara and myself are going to try and set up, which is an EU lobby for better parental leave conditions for scientists who work with grant-based projects.

You started the Women in Paleo Workshop at EAVP last year – What were the challenges, why did you want to organize something like this? Did you have help from the community?

The funny thing was; at first it didn’t seem this workshop was going to happen. But the main organizer of EAVP 2017, Dr. Gertrud Rössner, and I decided after Trump was elected, the women’s march and the march for science were organized, that this is the time to act, and not to idly stand by. Gertrud also got Professor Bettina Reichenbacher on board, and with her inspiring moderation, and talks by Soledad de Esteban Trivigno, Veronica Diez and Edina Prondvai, we had a really great 1st workshop. This year, however, was even better, because I knew what to expect, and most importantly, I wasn’t afraid anymore. And we had two really inspiring talks by Ana Rosa Gomez Cano about the visibility of women in science, and by Sanjukta Chakravorti about women in science outside of Europe. What helped me in both instances was the overwhelming enthusiasm of EAVP women from all over the EAVP network. But still, nothing would have happened if I hadn’t been stubborn. The effect is great, though, and the timing is right; studies on gender are being done round the clock, and there are the #womeninscience, #womeninstem and #metoo movement rollercoaster we can all ride.

 

What would you tell a little girl about the challenges and struggles (but also the positive things) in joining this path of palaeontology?

What would I not tell her, haha. I would start by saying she can be whatever and whoever she will want to be. And that if she wants to become a palaeontologist, she should work and study hard, but that there are people like you and me to help her start her career when she is ready to start. We all need to help each other, especially us women, to get that network starting, and to get those first few projects off the ground. After that, it is up to her though, because the current funding climate is particularly hostile, and colleagues (male and female) are dropping out like flies. This hostile funding climate of course also encourages male predatory and bossy behaviour, and it’s not easy being a woman in those circles. But there are opportunities, and I really hope by the time a little girl now will be a palaeontologist, times will have changed, and gender stereotyping won’t be quite so prevalent. The most important thing is that there are networks of women who can and will support each other.

 

Thank you so much to Femke for talking to me about this topic we are both so passionate about and for taking time out of her busy life as a kick-a** woman in science <3

 

Connect with Femke:

Twitter
ResearchGate

Sources:

Blanch, D. C., Hall, J. A., Roter, D. L., & Frankel, R. M. (2008). Medical student gender and issues of confidence. Patient education and counseling, 72(3), 374-381.

Chavatzia, T. UNESCO (2017). Cracking the code: girls’ and women’s education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Pimiento (2016) https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/oct/11/palaeontology-is-full-of-dinosaurs-and-not-in-a-good-way-for-womens-careers

Holmes, M. A., O’Connell, S. & Dutt, K. (2015). Women in the Geosciences: Practical, Positive Practices Towards Parity (AGU Special Publication Series, Wiley)


Franziska

I am a Vertebrate Paleontologist and Evolutionary Biology Master alumna of Freie Universität Berlin, with a strong interest in Education, Women in STEM, Science Communication, and International Relations in Higher Education. If you don’t find me tweeting about topics I care about, I am most likely busy planning my next travel adventure, taking photographs with my camera or reading a book somewhere in a coffee shop.