Marie-Ève Thérien
Women researchers at the University of Ottawa brought home high-profile distinctions in 2008, crowning years of cutting-edge exploration and sheer hard work. Among the honorees are Constance Backhouse, Nancy Edwards, Ruby Heap, and Shana Poplack.
Monique Frize, from the University of Ottawa research group on women in engineering, is delighted for her colleagues. She knows all too well how the research world works and how women fit in. In 1989, she became the first holder of the Nortel/NSERC chair on the status of women in engineering at the University of New Brunswick. "Several researchers of my generation struggled against discrimination and continue to denounce it in their workplace. And younger women pursuing research careers also wrestle with a huge challenge as well: balancing work and family," claims the staunch defender of women researchers.
So how exactly do young women researchers see and manage their careers? Cristina Atance, associate professor at the School of Psychology, is among the recipients of the 2008 "young researcher of the year" award at the University of Ottawa. She runs two research programs, one funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the other by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada. "I worked very hard to get where I am, and I consider myself lucky to be doing what I love," she says. Her advice to young researchers? "Realize right away that research life is demanding. You have to be versatile as well—that is, be able to teach, do research and publish the results, secure funding for projects and, in some cases, manage an entire lab, which involves hiring staff, buying material and simply making sure the whole place runs smoothly."
Dalie Giroux, professor at the School of Political Studies, agrees: "The academic setting reveres the researcher-entrepreneur type. Young researchers face huge pressure in terms of their productivity. The challenge is finding a place for yourself; it's a world where work-life balance becomes really fragile," says Giroux.
With that special challenge in mind, in 2004, the University of Ottawa established the Community of Women Scholars under the Centre for University Teaching. The service helps women in academe contend with the issue of work-life balance. For information on the service, go to www.tlss.uottawa.ca.
