Overcoming obstacles as an early-career, Latin American woman in science

Transcript

1. Overcoming obstacles as an early-career, Latin American woman in science Valerie De Anda, PhD @val_deanda Postdoctoral Researcher The University of Texas at Austin | Marine Science Institute Port Aransas, Texas The 5th Annual Women in Science Conference October 24, 2019 ChinaNational GeneBank International Conference on Genomics (ICG-14)
2. Content I. Latin America in numbers II. Mexico as an example III. What prevents women from pursuing scientific careers IV. My personal experience V. What needs to change, how do we change it?
3. Latin America Language • Comprises ~20 countries • subdivided into four regions • ~643 million inhabitants • ~9% of the global population • 3 languages: • Spanish (60%) • Portuguese (34%) • French and others (6%) Spanish Portuguese French I. Latin America in numbers
4. • Latin America is a developing region and hosts some of the poorest countries in the world like Haiti, Bolivia, and Paraguay. • More Latin Americans are living in poverty now than they were 20 years ago. • Problems: political and economic instability, corruption, crime and narco- traffickers, decaying economy, discrimination, inequality. East Asia Pacific Europe and Central Asia Latin Am erica M iddle East and North Africa South Asia Sub-Saharan Africa I. Latin America in numbers Latin America The most unequal region in the world
5. I. Latin America in numbers Latin America Most unequal income distribution in the world $6- 460 monthly income
6. The major factors contributing to low scientific productivity 1. Access to grant opportunities 2. Budgets 3. Laboratory infrastructure and equipment 4. Poor salaries and personal insecurity of scientists 5. Political and economic instability 6. Distribution of research funding 7. Brain “drain” Latin America budget ~60 B I. Latin America in numbers Ciocca D and Delgado G C (2017) 22:847–852 Latin America Research & Development
7. 65% dropout rate for Mexican students Public schools lack access to basic services: § 40% of primary schools lack libraries § 88% lack science laboratories § 65% lack computer rooms § 35% lack a gymnasium § 21% lack potable water § 32% lack an adequate number of bathrooms § 11% lack electricity I. Latin America in numbers Latin America Education
8. • More than 50% of children live in poverty • Only 45% of the population own or have used a computer • Only 51% of students have access to the Internet • Lack of money for transportation • Needing to help their family at work • 1% of children in Mexico will become professionals • Master’s or doctoral degree <$9,000/year • College degree <$5,000/year • 33% of Mexican employees have retirement savings (Latin America = 56%) • Professional women earn 18% less than men Minimum salary in USD II. Mexico as an example Mexico as an example Education
9. 1. Mexico has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in the world 2. Social barriers and lack of gender equality (mentality and expectations) 3. Top 20 most dangerous countries in the world for women (Iran, Iraq, Guatemala, Colombia, Siri Lanka, Pakistan) III. Specific cases Mexico as an example What prevents women from pursuing scientific careers
10. Fernanda Torres Undergraduate student Verbally abused and threatened by her undergraduate advisor. Mirna Vazquez Postdoctoral fellow Ideas get stolen Criticized for her body and the way she dresses Not taken seriously in professional meetings III. Specific cases Jazmin Blaz Graduated student Ideas get stolen • Stalking and harassment • Student victims • Academic consequences and power dynamics • Lack of institutional support or policies Mexico as an example What prevents women from pursuing scientific careers
11. IV. My personal experience • I started with less • Peer pressure • Really strong interest in education • Scholarships • Access to public college 2019 • Winner of the Woman in Science travel award ICG-14 • Winner of the FEMS-ASM MÄKELÄ-CASSELL award 2018 • Alfonso Caso Nominate. Distinction awarded by UNAM to the most outstanding students of each graduate program at national level. The winner will be announced by the end of 2020 2017 • Semifinalist in the LANGEBIO award 2017. National contest to best Ph.D. thesis. • Semifinalist in the GigaScience Prize Track, ICG-12 Shenzen, China October 2017 • Winner of The Bioinformatics Peer Prize II student category Mexico as an example My personal experience as a woman in science 1992 2008 2019 • Verbally harassed walking to and from school • Lack of support from my committee member 2019
12. What do we need to change And how do we change it 2019 V. What needs to change • Mentality and the expectations • Make people aware of the inequality • Make women's rights a priority (i.e Title IX) • Exposure: generate closeness between out citizens and female scientist through science education and active participation within the community. • Work together as a woman in science to encourage future generations to not give up in pursuing their dreams • Against the odds, I’m women in science from Latin America that believe that I could do it, so I did it.
13. Women in Mexico Violence • Top 20 most dangerous countries in the world for women (Iran, Iraq, Guatemala, Colombia, Siri Lanka, Pakistan) • Women in Mexico (15 and 45 years old) are more likely to be raped or killed than to get cancer or get AIDS • With 1,812 women murdered between January and July this year — about 10 a day — Mexico is Latin America’s second- most dangerous country for women, after Brazil, according to the United Nations. • More than 200 Mexican women have been kidnapped so far in 2019 • Mexican women are angry about rape, murder and government neglect — and they want the world to know • Mexican women on Aug. 16 staged a furious protest in Mexico City after a 17-year-old girl reported being raped by four police officers earlier in the month. • Women’s rights ‘not a priority’ The United Nations has rated Mexico as one of the most violent countries for women in the world. after comparing its rankings of these different types of violence to other countries around the world.[2][3] According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography in Mexico (INEGI), 66.1 percent of all women age 15 and older have experienced some kind of violence in their lives. 49% percent have suffered from emotional violence; 29 % percent have suffered from emotional-patrimonial violence or discrimination 34 % from physical violence; and 41.3 % of women have suffered from sexual violence.[ Of the women who were assaulted in some form, 78.6 percent of them have not sought help or reported their attacks to authorities. There are different explanations for the causes of these high numbers of violence; scholars have looked at the cultural roots as well as economic policies and changes that have led to a recent growth in the amount of gender-based violence. There was a rise of international attention looking at the state of violence against women in Mexico in the early 1990s, as the number of missing and murdered women in the northern border city of Ciudad Juárez began to rise dramatically While legislation and different policies have been put in place to decrease violence against women in Mexico, different organizations have shown that these policies have had little effect on the state of violence due to a lack of proper implementation