They are doctors, researchers and mothers; they have three jobs at the same time and are under pressure everywhere: In addition to their care work and strenuous day-to-day duties in the clinic, as scientists, they have to publish as much as possible in a well-founded way and obtain external funding. Anne Gregor from the “Female Empowerment in Life Science (FELS)” initiative does not believe in simple solutions to improve work-life balance. But there are many screws you can turn. “Above all, everyone has to rethink: the University as an employer, supporters and funders such as the Swiss National Science Foundation, but also the employees themselves.”

Lack of flexibility slows women down

The FELS network is committed to the career development of women and to increasing the number of women in management positions, especially in medicine. Even though Anne Gregor is not a mother herself, she is familiar with their multiple burdens: These include lectures and colloquia, which also serve to establish the scientific network, but which take place outside core working hours. In order to qualify for a habilitation in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bern, you also need to have spent a year abroad – but how do you organize that with a family? And what if the child is sick?

Anne Gregor thinks it is right for younger female researchers to demand more flexibility. More flexible working time models are urgently needed. But when mothers and pregnant women inquire, they often receive less support than their male colleagues, who are available full-time. As a result: Mothers-to-be conceal their pregnancy until it becomes obvious, for example, in order to be able to operate for as long as possible. Supervisors sometimes believed that they were protecting women with their actions, says Gregor. “But that’s intrusive: Pregnant women should decide for themselves how long they want to continue working.”

Many young female doctors give up

Balancing a career and family is challenging in any area of a university – but with the long duration of medical studies, the situation is particularly tricky. “You spend around 10 to 15 years in the system until you’re a doctor,” says Anne Gregor. In addition, there are above-average working hours – in Bern, junior doctors have a 50-hour week – and shift work. From the very beginning of their studies, the drop-out rate for women is high. “But society simply cannot afford not to exploit the potential of women as leaders,” says Gregor – also with regard to the shortage of skilled workers.

Better framework conditions needed

Science is never going to be a nine-to-five job, says Anne Gregor. It takes a healthy dose of self-motivation and drive to be a doctor and a researcher at the same time. “Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and go to the lab on a Sunday morning,” she admits. “We urgently need to create the conditions for women to be able to perform – and yet not be eaten up by the work of the clinic. Because if the framework conditions are right, women are also willing to take this extra step.”

Gregor has observed that mothers often work very efficiently: They have little time and have to put it to the best possible use. “However, research also has a lot to do with thinking and creativity. And that’s not something that can be forced.” Research freedom is needed in order to successfully practice science. “What can help, for example, is a <Protected Research Time>: These are research periods during which employees are released from their day-to-day routine in the clinic so that, for example, they can focus completely on research one day a week.” Such offers would have to be expanded and care should be taken to ensure that they are actually adhered to in day-to-day clinical practice. Because when mothers step in at the clinic in an emergency, they often lose out on research time.

Scientific culture must change

Andrew Chan, Vice-Rector for International and Academic Careers, puts it bluntly: “The current model of academic culture is no longer in keeping with the times.” Would equality improve if we were less performance-oriented? Chan dismisses the idea: “Science is at the crossroads between quality and the competition for resources. Performance will always be key.” However, there is room for change when it comes to the timing: The age at which an academic career should take off according to common criteria is often also the age at which family planning and childcare take up a lot of space. “If we were able to realign these two stages of life, we would channel the energy and talent at the optimal time,” says Chan.

Career at 45? Why not?

Anne Gregor agrees: “An academic career can still take off at full speed at the age of 45 when your children are older.”

Andrew Chan is also convinced from his own experience that people with diverse careers and different life histories can make an organization such as a university more successful. That’s why he also wants to promote women’s careers in academia: “We want to, can and must.” Chan explains that several initiatives are already well on the way, such as the Better Science Initiative (see interview on page 45) and global alliances of research institutes and organizations that want to bring about a cultural change in research evaluation. Chan also refers to the 120% care grant from the University of Bern, which makes it possible to reduce the workload on a temporary basis and hire a support person. And he names “COMET”, a program with mentoring, coaching and training for female postdoctoral researchers. “The main problem is that the mechanisms in research change very slowly.” Chan is also concerned about the cost-cutting constraints facing universities: “We must all work hard to ensure that we can continue to provide at least the same level of financial support for the current equal opportunities programs.”

Men must be part of the solution

The University of Bern has been carrying out institutional work in the area of gender equality since 1990, making it a pioneer in this field – for example with the Office for Equal Opportunities (see interview on page 23). The intermediate staff association of the University of Bern (MVUB) also focuses on the topic of reconciling a family and an academic career and regularly organizes courses for this purpose. Like Andrew Chan, the MVUB also refers to the 120% care grant. It also suggests additional tools, such as those used by the University of Basel with “get on track” or “stay on track”. These mechanisms can be used to finance either childcare support or an assistant for a semester.

The fact that the topic of reconciling a family and an academic career is often still a “women’s topic”, is seen as a core problem by MVUB Co-President Bettina Zimmermann: “Nothing will ever change in this way. Reconciling work and a family life is impossible without the fathers.” Anne Gregor agrees: “It’s difficult without a supportive environment with the right partner.” And what about the fathers who do research? There are male scientists who are very involved in family chores, even though there are not many of them, Gregor notes. “They find it just as difficult to reconcile the two as women do. But while mothers tend to be thought of as being less productive, fathers are admired for managing both.”

New generation calls for change

From the point of view of the MVUB, a lot still needs to be done to better reconcile a family and an academic career: for example, parental leave that puts mothers and fathers on an equal footing, or a working environment that takes into account the needs of mothers and fathers. According to Gregor, a new generation of leaders is currently growing at the University of Bern who want change. The initiatives mentioned above could help in this regard. However, combining an academic career in medicine with being a mother will always remain a balancing act.