International Women's Day at MARUM

Mar 8, 2024

Women at MARUM. Photo: MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences; University of Bremen

The motto of this year's International Women's Day is "Inspire Inclusion". Above all, it is about recognizing the unique perspectives and contributions of women in all situations and circumstances. Anyone who has ever organized an event will have an idea of how challenging this can sometimes be.

How can scientific conferences be made more inclusive? Alice Lefebvre and Renée Bernhard from MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen recently published an article on this question. In it, they analyze, among other things, the origin, gender and proportion of participants and presenters of poster and talks. They emphasize that researchers from different backgrounds and genders could find it easier to present their work at conferences if the environment is inclusive and supportive. To this end, concrete suggestions are made, such as promoting diversity in the composition of organizing committees, invited presenters (keynote speakers) or session chairs. In question and answer sessions, participants and students in particular should be actively encouraged to take part.

Link to the paper: Diversity at a Small Geoscience Conference - Lefebvre - 2024 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface - Wiley Online Library

At MARUM, a collective takes care of gender equality. Even though they are legally called women’s representatives by Bremen law (BremHG), they are there to advise and address the gender equality concerns of all researchers and students.

Julie Meilland, Alice Lefebvre and Florence Schubotz are members of MARUM Women's Representative Collective. They were elected for three years in January 2022 and provide advice and support with the aim of reducing existing gender-specific inequalities.

Alice Lefebvre, Florence Schubotz and Julie Meilland (from left) are members of the MARUM Women's Representative Collective. Photo: MARUM- Center for Marine Environmental Sciences; University of Bremen; J.Nitsch

The activities include, for example

Participation in hiring procedures
Advice in the event of discrimination or harassment
Information and counselling on available assistance measures related to family support
Organization of a "women@MARUM" network meeting to offer the opportunity for all MARUM female and non-binary employees to meet and exchange about specific gender-related topics, such as “Inappropriate behaviour and sexual aggressions at sea and during fieldwork”, “Gender is a spectrum” or “Everyday sexism”,
Organization of gender-related events, such as a screening of the film “Picture a Scientist” or a lecture on “The Role of Gendered Wording in Job Advertisements”

More information is also available on the homepage: https://www.marum.de/en/about-us/Womens-representatives.html