Being a woman and juggling the roles of a professional, a parent, a child and a spouse is not a new dilemma. What may be new is an increased awareness that historically we have thought of this as more of a woman's problem than a man's.
"Why are certain things so ingrained in our culture and society about what a woman's role should be?" asked Dr. Gelareh Zadeh, during a panel discussion about closing the gap for women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
The event was hosted by JLABS, Johnson & Johnson's innovation incubator, and co-presented by UHN on International Women's Day. It began with a talk given by Dr. Molly Shoichet, Ontario’s first Chief Scientist, describing her academic and career path.
Dr. Shoichet's talk was followed by a panel discussion including Dr. Zadeh, the head of Surgical Oncology at UHN and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre Scientist; Dr. Christine Allen, a drug delivery and cancer researcher at the University of Toronto; Doina Oncel, CEO of hEr Volution; and Melissa Sariffodeen, CEO and co-founder of Canada Learning Code. The discussion was moderated by Catherine Wang, VP of Clinical Operations and Diagnostic Partnerships at UHN.
While gender stereotypes are still common, Dr. Zadeh and the other panelists discussed how there is a growing understanding that we should not use different rulers to measure how women and men balance career and personal life. But changing this perception can be especially hard in careers that demand long hours and a lifetime of dedication.
All successful women in leadership roles in STEM, the panelists shared their struggles in coordinating their careers with motherhood. Most importantly, they told their stories on how to fight stigma and be able to really share responsibilities with their partners.
Dr. Zadeh, for example, said she never had the time to prepare her daughter's lunch box—something often expected of a mother. However, she has built an open and solid relationship with her daughter, something she would not trade for anything in the world.
"Do I make mistakes? Absolutely," Dr. Zadeh said. "Am I perfect? No. I'm never going to be that perfect mom who participates in all school activities, but my relationship with my daughter is completely solid and I wouldn't change it. I'm really happy that she's in my life."
"And it goes back to my main point. How do we know if we are good mothers? We use metrics defined historically and culturally by our society. But these metrics don't make sense to me. I should use metrics that fit my life and, as a consequence, I can deliver on them."
'Me too' movement and its impact for women in STEM
Although Hollywood is quite a distant world for women in STEM, the panelists said the main impact of the "Me too" and "Time's up" movements are in raising awareness to gender discrimination in the workplace.
Dr. Zadeh said she is very proud that at UHN women are in senior management positions and in research leadership roles, but that medicine and especially her field—neurosurgery—are still very much dominated by men.
For her, to involve men as well as women in ending gender disparity is key to having more women opting for a career in STEM.
"It is our responsibility as a society to make sure that our men are also equally involved and fully understand what the issue is," she said. "We assume that men are deliberate on this process [of excluding women], but I would argue it is not the case."
"There is a much bigger role that men can play and I think they are willing to play it. We need to work together to make it happen, to move towards real change."
As the panel's moderator, Catherine Wang said it is very important for UHN to participate in events such as this. She pointed out the institution is very engaged in promoting gender equality.
"Being a woman and a leader at UHN, I'm so proud to be a part of this event and hear impactful women in STEM share their powerful experiences," she said.
"While I think UHN is far ahead of most other Canadian hospitals, there are still opportunities for us to improve on gender equality. The pace of progress is tremendous right now and we need to see this continue."
This is an adaptation of a story originally published by UHN News on www.uhn.ca
Dr. Molly Shoichet, Ontario’s first Chief Scientist and professor at the University of Toronto, describing her path towards a career in STEM (photo: UHN’s StRIDe team).