How can women foster a work-life balance in their research careers?

How do we make tough career decisions?

Why do we sometimes feel we’re not good enough to be here?

These are some of the questions that were tackled at McGill’s 2^nd annual In her own words 2: Stories from Distinguished Research Careers. The speakers on this panel were Professor Suzanne Fortier (our current Principal), Professor Grace Fong, and Professor Morag Park.

Their advice was thoughtful, but also sometimes discouraging—in the way the best can make success look so easy. This post is for all you who didn’t make it to the event but are curious as to what these power-houses had to say about pursuing a career in research.

How can women foster a work-life balance in their research careers?

To answer this question, we need to unpack it a bit. Most of us can guess what the “work” part of that equation might look like. Some of the steps of research careers are clear with regards to diplomas and work placements to rise through academic ranks.

But what is the other part of the ratio—the nebulous “life” of a researcher? Some young researchers want families and kids, others don’t. For those who want to have babies, timing seems to be a very complicated issue. Indeed, the time when academics would be moving on to higher-level research positions coincides with the ringing of biological clocks.

The panelists took a pragmatic view on this question. Dr. Park said that when she had kids, she simply “became more organized and slept less,” while Dr. Fortier suggested that “two out of three ain’t bad” (wise words shared, coincidentally by Meat Loaf). That is, if between family, work, and play, you can only focus on two of these areas at a time in any given period of your life, that should be good enough.

The underlying theme to these statements was that if you want it badly enough, and are truly passionate about your research, you can make it work, no matter the sacrifices.

This brings us to the second big question. Given all the challenges women face in academia and work in general:

How do we make tough decisions regarding our careers?

I think the best answer to this question was offered by Professor Park: “make decisions based on what you know you don’t want to do.”

None of these panelists had the grand plan of becoming successful researchers. But they were all passionate about their work, and shared the good fortune of being at the right place at the right time.

An added ingredient to this magical combination was the reception of good advice throughout their careers. In short: Ladies, find a mentor. (And for all those supervisors who might be reading this post: hone the art of mentorship!)

Mentorship is different from advice-giving.  It involves recognizing the strengths and skills already inherent in the student, but offering them the frameworks of support necessary to improve upon problem areas. Much of the success of the panelists could be traced back to instances of receiving excellent advice and mentorship.

But still, despite all their successes, these brilliant women all admitted to feeling insecure about their careers at some point in their lives.

Why do we sometimes feel we’re not good enough to be here?

It’s called the Imposter Syndrome . Though it’s not necessarily gender specific, women feeling like imposters in an academic setting, like their successes aren’t deserved, or that someone will soon realize that they are phonies and they’ll be kicked out, is particularly alarming given the already large systemic burdens and barriers women face.

One result of Imposter Syndrome is that women don’t always ask for what we deserve.

Adequate salaries and project support are examples of resources women rarely receive in research. The panelists emphasized how, when leading research projects, women should expect the salaries and funds necessary for hiring a project manager or for delegating responsibilities to others so that the work-life balance becomes more manageable.