Guest Blog from Women in Research Ireland: Honest Conversations that Bring Women Researchers Closer

The Digital Repository of Ireland seeks to support researchers from all backgrounds, gender and career stage. In order to guide our efforts, we are currently developing an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy that acknowledges the range of perspectives and experiences brought to the DRI through the researchers, institutions and communities we serve. To help inform that policy we are meeting with groups from multiple backgrounds to hear about the challenges they face. We were delighted to meet with representatives from Women in Research Ireland (WIRI) recently who told us all about the work they do to support women and diversity in academic research in Ireland. Learning about these challenges allows us to better target our outreach, education and training programme and gives us key areas to focus on for the future. We asked Women in Research Ireland to write a blog about the work their network does.

When you start having honest conversations about the problems within academia, such as temporary contracts, work conditions, gender discrimination, hyper competitivity and job precarity, you join a group of like-minded academics, creating a safe space of healing and growing. At a moment when many academics, especially Early Career Researchers (ECRs), are at a tipping point, having honest conversations about research careers and issues that affect ECRs makes a big difference in how to face the challenges ahead. The need for this kind of support system led to the important work of the not-for-profit charity Women in Research Ireland (WIRI), with a vision to unite and build an empowering diverse and inclusive community of underrepresented groups where silenced voices are heard in academic spaces. This article delves into some goals, experiences and success stories achieved. 

In the past few years, discussions about academic precarity have increased, not only because the prospects of having a stable job have become increasingly out of the reach of many but also because an increasing number of academics have been expressing dissatisfaction with the way things operate in academia. This has lead to the growth of advocacy and activism related to researchers’ rights and researchers’ futures, opening up discussions on how academia, universities and the government can do better to address pervasive academic issues, such as job security and gender discrimination, among others. 

When it comes to academic jobs, there’s this sense of accomplishment and service to society which makes it all worth it, and this is the side that is mostly advertised as the biggest selling point of an academic career. However, when it comes to job security and job satisfaction in academia, the fact that memes have been circling around these themes is evidence of a problem. Over the years, the situation concerning job security and work-life balance has been aggravated, and more so in the case in Ireland, where the number of permanent lecturing posts are far fewer than the number of potential applicants for such posts. 

WIRI’s mission revolves around advocacy of academic researchers, particularly towards women and other minority groups in Ireland. The fact that just about ¼ of the professors in Ireland are women, that there is only one full-time black female academic professorial post-holder in Irish academia and that more females than males work in part-time, temporary academic jobs shows Ireland is in dire need of such advocacy. Pushing for better job conditions, permanent jobs, better female/ECR representation, flexible working hours and ensuring women remain in academia are some of the themes central to WIRI’s vision for a better and more inclusive Irish academia. A feminist ethos guides our  work with an aim to embody a strategy towards the advancement of women’s rights and social justice.

In this article, we explore some major aspects of our work in the last two years, and we emphasise the importance of female academic support groups such as ours.

Gender issues at the forefront of WIRI’s efforts during COVID19

WIRI’s expansion of reach and membership during COVID-19 is a testament to the fact that academia has strongly impacted women’s lives. This includes women leaving academia, publishing less papers and applying for even less research grants; in addition to assuming most of the responsibility for the care of children. Women scholars’ guilt is already well-established in the literature. Women scholars are under the pressure of several competing roles: mothers, lecturers, homemakers and researchers, nurturers and administrators. Those issues worsened during the pandemic, and WIRI highlighted those issues with several online webinars focused on job precarity among female early career researchers in Ireland. We invited specialists, researchers and professionals to present their latest research and discuss some of the challenges and solutions for women’s issues in academia. 

During our online discussions at the height of the pandemic, it became clear that for many women scholars starting a family is a difficult choice. Aside from the regular challenges of maternity leave, keeping up with metrics and heavy teaching loads, job precarity makes academics think twice before having a child. Choosing to step away from work might have not just an impact on future employment prospects but the career options available when women return to their academic posts. This is even more challenging for female PhD students, who may also not be entitled to paid maternity leave depending on the type of funding (some do not have any). Teaching assistants are often hired under nine-month contracts so universities do not need to pay them during the summer term, and their challenges are multiplied.

Core Advocacy around Mental Health Issues of Academics

WIRI has also focused on mental health issues in academia, with the support of a grant from the Royal Society of Chemistry. In a series of three public webinar sessions and a final in-person event around the topic of mental health, invited guests addressed various issues with the goal of raising awareness about feelings of insecurity, unkind and aggressive working conditions, bullying and harassment and unsupportive colleagues. In the final in-person webinar, we also discussed the issues of resilience in academia. While the idea of building or improving resilience is appealing and useful, most academics have already developed some level of resilience to be able to cope with the challenges of the profession – but the scholarship has found also that encouraging academics to be more resilient can work in a way to deflect blame, positioning those who suffer as ‘troubled’ and ‘needing to adapt’, when in fact it is the other way around: the academic system needs to change.

Recent representations in the Oireachtas

In 2022, our advocacy work broadened with major submissions to the Oireachtas Committee examining the Future Funding of Higher Education (February) and to the Committee’s examination of the recommendations made by the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality in May. On those occasions, WIRI representatives had the opportunity to discuss with committee members and government representatives issues relating to diversity and inclusivity in Irish academia, gender-specific quotas in Irish HEIs, deteriorating work conditions for female academics and gender-neutral STEM education initiatives at early second-level education. In June 2022, WIRI was invited as a relevant stakeholder to take part in a meeting with the expert group leading the Second National Review of Gender Equality in Irish HEIs, where WIRI’s input centred around recent advancements while also emphasising a dire need to reduce over-dependence on temporary academics (which as statistics suggest are mostly women) and hence, reduce inequality in terms of career growth opportunities in academia from a gender equality perspective.

Other partnerships

In the past 2 years WIRI has fostered and developed many important collaborations, producing impactful events around the core values and missions of WIRI, with Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Women on Air, Trinity Women Graduates, Brighter Professional Development with Prof Terri Givens (the first African American female to become Vice Provost at Menlo College, California), Irish Research Staff Association and Transgender Equality Network Ireland. WIRI are also a group member of the National Women’s Council of Ireland. 

Women in Research Ireland is committed to promoting a more diverse Irish academia landscape that reflects the multitude of researchers’ voices, backgrounds and career choices. The road ahead for women in academia is indeed challenging, and in order to provide support it is valuable to understand and have discussions on various aspects of gender in academia. These discussions are important to ensure that Irish academia’s quality of teaching and research remains close to the highest standards. We invite you to get to know our work at https://womeninresearch.ie/and welcome new members interested in the core vision and goals of WiRI mentioned above to join forces with us and work towards a more inclusive Irish academia.