New leadership at the Women's Executive Board of GEOMAR

08 March 2021/Kiel. International Women’s Day, on 8 March, is a reminder that for the last 100 years gender equality has not been achieved – even up to today. This also applies to future-oriented fields such as science. Marine research is no exception. Thus, women in leadership roles at GEOMAR formed the Women's Executive Board back in 2013 to represent their own interests appropriately. Matching International Women's Day 2021 with the motto "Women in leadership positions", the new chairwomen of the WEB, Prof. Dr. Mirjam Perner und Dr. Christa Marandino, have now started their work. They succeed the previous WEB chairs Prof Dr Katja Matthes (2013- 2017) and Prof Dr Anja Engel (2017-2020).

Both new and old challenges await the new management duo. "First of all, we are also struggling with the effects of the Corona pandemic. Personal exchange and events are hardly possible at the moment," says Dr Christa Marandino. Her counterpart adds that home office with simultaneous childcare naturally slows down work. "But this applies to academics in general, not only to supervisors and not only to women," says Professor Perner.  

One of the WEB's best-known activities is the Marie Tharp Lecture Series for Ocean Research, to which the WEB has invited renowned female scientists to Kiel since 2013. The speakers not only present their work, but are also available to younger female colleagues for networking and act as role models. "We have already held Marie Tharp lectures online in 2020 and will keep the event alive like this in 2021. But we are also looking forward to finally being able to meet again in person," emphasises Dr Marandino.

At the same time, the new chairpersons also want to break new ground. "So far, the WEB has been an important point of contact for female postdocs. For career questions, however, they now also have the Postdoc Academic Career Support Center at their side. That's why we want to sharpen the WEB's profile a little more so as not to build up duplicate structures," says Professor Perner. To this end, the WEB is planning targeted surveys that will explore the wishes, needs and problems of those more advanced in their careers, following the GEOS employee survey that has already been completed at GEOMAR.

Additionally, the Women's Executive Board would like to involve male colleagues at GEOMAR more than before. "Only together, we can achieve more transparency in the allocation of jobs or funds and pay more attention to implicit bias that play a role in these processes," says Dr Marandino.

Both emphasise that there has been progress in gender equality at GEOMAR in recent years. The proportion of women at the W1 professorship and group management level, for example, has now increased to 33 percent. "Not to mention that we now have a female director," says Christa Marandino with a smile. At the same time, she emphasizes that there is still plenty to do. "Especially in the case of permanent positions in science, hardly anything has changed; there we are still at 25 percent women, while the share of women in temporary positions in science is well over 50 per cent," adds Mirjam Perner. "We still have a long way to go. And for that, an institution like the WEB is important. Together with the equal opportunities officers, we will work intensively to ensure that in the future it will no longer matter what gender a person is when applying for a job," she concludes.