conference

Frustrated

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This didn’t happen to me but I witnessed it a few months ago at a conference I was at. So, it was a healthcare conference in the UK. Lots of high-profile speakers at an event being held by a very well known think-tank. We received an excellent speech from a geriatrician about the way that an ageing society was changing healthcare, she was maybe in her 30’s very well-presented and obviously super smart. I really enjoyed her speech. She was immediately followed on stage by a journalist in his 60s who was giving the next presentation. His first sentence was “I am [Insert name here] and I am a futurist, which means I live in the future.” Then without pausing for breath he goes “Typical woman, you’ve nicked my bloody microphone”. He was referring to the geriatrician who had taken the microphone with her when she left the stage. There was an audible gasp from the audience. He apologised, but I don’t think he understood the irony of saying he lived in the future and then demonstrating a completely prehistoric point of view. I was so angry, the geriatrician gave a really intelligent speech establishing herself as an excellent doctor but at the end of it he still clearly saw her as ‘a woman’ not a professional. Also stealing isn’t even a stereotype of women???

anon, via email

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I’m currently at an academic conference and I’d like to share a snapshot of my experiences with my advisor from yesterday that make me feel like I am not taken seriously as scientist. I was told that my poster was “cute” (rather than professional and informative), and that I was “a busy girl” during the presentation period (rather than stating people were very engaged in my work). When asked for a picture near my poster I was told to smile more (which I probably would not have been told to do if I were male). I’m sure many would say that I’m overreacting but word choice is important and an atmosphere of implicit gender bias can be just as harmful as blatantly sexist remarks.