What challenges must women overcome if they want to succeed in science while also caring for their families? And is it possible to lead the largest scientific institution in Czechia without compromising one's values? These and other questions were answered by two prominent figures in Czech science – Professors Helena Illnerová and Eva Zažímalová, former presidents of the Czech Academy of Sciences, during the Per aspera – Women's Path through Science gala evening, which took place at the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences on the occasion of International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
Professor Helena Illnerová recalled the period before 1989 and shortly after the Velvet Revolution. "I knew I was limited because I wasn't a member of the party – that was my choice. I was limited because part of my family was in America – that was their choice. But it never occurred to me that I was limited as a woman," she said. When she became head of the department after the revolution, she encountered disagreement from some of her colleagues. "They wrote in the attendance book that if I wanted to assign them work, I should write it there. I realized that they might not like me telling them what to do. But we quickly cleared that up," she added with perspective.
Both researchers agreed that balancing work and family remains a key issue—and that it is not just a "women's issue." "It sounds obvious that parents of young children should share childcare equally, but in practice this is still lacking. When talking about support for women, we should be talking about support for parents of young children in general," emphasized Professor Eva Zažímalová, who believes that every society should have an interest in ensuring that highly educated people can have children without jeopardizing their professional careers. "We have some catching up to do in this regard, for example, compared to Scandinavia or the Netherlands," added Eva Zažímalová, describing a specific example of support.
When one of her children was diagnosed with a serious illness in the early 1990s, she was given the opportunity to work from home, which was quite exceptional at the time, by the director of the institute. "I spent two-thirds of my working hours at home preparing experiments and writing publications, and I only went to work to carry out the experiments themselves. If the director—who was a man—hadn't allowed me to do that at the time, I wouldn't be where I am today," she said. According to her, flexibility and trust are the way to truly support parents in science.
The evening also included the ceremonial launch of the book Neviditelné ženy ve vědě (Invisible Women in Science) by science journalist and writer Pavla Hubálková. Through interviews with twelve leading female scientists across various fields, the book shows that there is no single "right" type of female scientist or universal path to a scientific career.
"The word invisible is a bit of a play on words—and it clearly works because it evokes emotion. I get emails asking whether these women are invisible or not," explained the author. "It's not just that there are few female scientists. It's also that women are not sufficiently researched—we still know little about women's health, for example. Until recently, drugs were only tested on men, and it was assumed that they worked the same way on women, which is not true."
The Per aspera – Women's Journey Through Science event was organized by the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences in cooperation with the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
Photo: Tomáš Belloň / IOCB Prague
