`One evaluation question can already be asked,' says Monique Duyvesteijn of the PA&O service. `I'm missing one hundred women. All 150 female scientists of the UT have been invited. About twenty of these women have cancelled: they were too old or were no longer working for the UT. Thirty signed up, and those others? I don't know.'
Duyvesteijn, who is interning as a future education expert at the PA&O service and is supervising the project, explains that the participants get a year-long intensive supervision of a mentor to plan their career. `Numerous professors and university lecturers, mostly men, have signed up for mentorship. Each will supervise a female scientist, preferably from another division. It's purely about strategic career planning, so specific scientific knowledge is not absolutely necessary. Usually researchers get a bit of coaching from their division supervisor as well.'
A conference on February 13, a manual, four conversations and an interim inspection will help the up-and-coming talents reach the top. `Utrecht University has started a similar project,' tells Duyvesteijn. `From their evaluation, it seemed that men became aware of the different factors that came up for women during their career because of the project. Why doesn't that occur naturally? For example, women get passed over more often. In our society there's a common cultural misconception that women do not choose a top job. Research acknowledges this and points out that from kindergarten on, women get less appreciation for their work than men. Ambition is a combination of recognition and quality. A lack of appreciation leads to lower ambition.'
With the mentor network the UT puts its first foot forward for more talented female scientists in better positions. `There is an evaluation after a year and we'll see whether there is need for follow-up. And, of course, what has happened to those other one hundred women!' In the fall, a similar project starts for assisting employees.
Trans. Henriëtte van Dorp
