A chara, – I was disappointed to see The Irish Times sharing again on social media this weekend Prof Pat O’Connor’s opinion piece proposing that parents should dissuade their daughters from studying science, apparently on the basis that it remains unlikely (as in all subjects) that they will become professors (“So your daughter wants to study science at university? First take a reality check”, Education, June 23rd).
Setting aside the paternalistic framing of speaking to parents rather than young women themselves, I believe it is irresponsible to encourage students to exclude themselves from qualifying for hundreds of thousands of high-skilled jobs in Ireland, particularly in biopharma, medtech, semiconductors and engineering.
I am pleased to say that Ireland’s campuses are full this week with “daughters” who ignored this article’s advice – they are studying science because they are curious about how the world works, want to learn how to solve real-world problems, and in most cases have yet no idea which exact career they will follow.
In STEM degrees they learn a diverse range of technical and transferable skills relevant for a huge range of careers. Some find internships during their undergrad years and turn this relationship into a first job, others pursue further studies or travel the world to do research that excites them, while others bank the transferable skills from studying science and use them to do something completely different. Peers from my own chemistry studies, for example, went into consultancy, business, law, teaching and public service.
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Academic careers are indeed competitive and full of precarious moments we all experience in moving from one project or contract to the next. Precarity of funding and structural barriers to women in academia are important discussion points.
However, the “permanent academic position” is in no way the pinnacle of being a scientist, nor should it be: it’s just one of many diverse and exciting careers that begin with choosing a science degree. No career has a guaranteed trajectory any more, but a solid foundation of scientific thinking is something that will stand to graduates of all genders in any walk of life. – Yours, etc,
Dr JOSEPH BYRNE,
Assistant professor in chemistry,
UCD,
Dublin 4.
