Support women to retain them

MALAYSIA has actually done very well in terms of encouraging and having more women involved in the STEM sector.

Universiti Malaya (UM) Faculty of Medicine dean Prof Datuk Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman, 55, says the same applies for leadership roles in academia.

“In UM, two of our deputy vice-chancellors are women,” she says.

She also says that more than half of the department heads within her faculty are women.

“Women definitely face more challenges in STEM, especially in medicine,” she adds.

She says these challenges occur because women have to make a choice between starting a family and advancing their careers such as specialising in certain fields.

“Their biological clock starts to run out (around the same time) when they just graduated from medicine and want to get into specialist training,” she adds.

The same applies when a woman plans on pursuing her postgraduate studies in other science-related fields as well, she explains.

“At that age, when you’re in your mid-20s to mid-30s, that really, really crucial age for your professional development is also the same time when your biological clock is ticking,” she points out.

“I think we cannot underestimate how much of an issue this is.”

Prof Adeeba says it is crucial for the government and policymakers to put in place better childcare facilities and policies to allow women to stay in STEM.

She says they need to come up with good quality, accessible and adequate childcare if they want to continue to see women participate in the workforce.

She adds that Malaysia still has some way to go in terms of mother-friendly policies as our society still relies on the extended family to help with childcare.

“We have also been relying on maids and domestic help,” she adds.

“Unfortunately, I think all these things are going to change.

“The extended family concept is not as strong as it used to be,” she adds.

Prof Adeeba also says that it is not just children that are a woman’s concern.

“We women are called upon to be the carers for our ageing parents,” she says.

She adds that as the ageing population grows, the elderly are now relying on their children to care for them.

Speaking of her own experience, Profr Adeeba says she had a “superbly supportive husband and extended family” to help with taking care of her children when they were growing up.

She adds that her husband and her tried not to travel overseas at the same time so that there was always someone around to watch over their two boys.

Prof Adeeba, who is also Malaysia AIDS Foundation (MAF) chairman, is also a strong advocate for equal rights for people who are HIV positive.

She says her passion for fighting HIV started when she was in her second year of medical school.

“One of the immunologists who was our lecturer eventually died from the disease,” she says, adding that this was about the same time new discoveries were being made about

AIDS.

“We were taught about it and I kind of got interested in it.

It was like no other disease that I had encountered,” she adds.

She says she is continuing the good work of MAF patron Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir.

She adds that in order for women to gain more footing in STEM, “it’s important that women mentor other women in leadership.”

Crucial for the government and policymakers to put in place better childcare facilities and policies to allow women to stay in STEM.

“It’s also important that we create platforms for women to get together and to support each other.”

Prof Adeeba