I attended a conference "Women in Science and Medicine" that
was held in Singapore this week. A strong focus of the meeting was to question
whether women can "have it all" -- a successful job and a happy
family. We were fortunate to hear from several successful scientists,
clinicians and politicians, including Prof. Elizabeth Blackburn, who won the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2011.
A common theme
emerged as each woman spoke: Yes, you can have it all. But it also seemed very
clear that these women were fortunate enough to have a supporting family by
their side to help with their children and an understanding husband. But, as one of
the audience members (and a successful scientist in her own right) pointed out,
what if you don’t have an understanding husband? What if you don’t have the
support from your family? There are many women in these fields that simply have
to make a choice – a career or a family.
In recent months,
there has been some interest in this dilemma in the papers — have a career first or children
first? In the Atlantic magazine (www.theatlantic.com), Anne-Marie Slaughter
recently caught the attention of many women caught in this battle. According to
The Atlantic, "Why Women Still Can't Have It All" is among its most
popular articles ever. Mind you, her downshift was from a powerful State
Department official to a Princeton University Professsor: This is not quite the
change that some women have to face when they quit work completely in order to
be a stay-at-home mum.
One of the speakers
at the “Women in Science and Medicine” conference, suggested that you need to
define what “all” is to you. Then, you
can have it all by working out your priorities and doing your best to follow
through. If “all” for you is to be a stay-at-home mum and work part-time, then
you have it all. Another gem was to have confidence in yourself and not to wait
for someone else to tell you that you did a good job.
But there is still
a long way to go for women to be equal in the work force. Women are an essential
element in the workforce, and the time has come for more flexible working hours,
for both men and women alike.
