The global proportion of women in science was 29.3 percent in 2016. Germany ranks up compared to other EU countries 28 percent in the penultimate place. Jennifer Albert is one of these women who works in a scientific environment as a laboratory engineer in the Faculty of Applied Natural Sciences at the TH Lübeck. The graduate biomedical engineer was recently elected Deputy Equal Opportunities Officer, thus continuing her many years of commitment to more equality at the university.
Carsten Mildner has been the new representative for diversity at TH Lübeck since March 1, 2022. The social anthropologist worked with people with disabilities before and during his studies and made the university and teaching more inclusive at the University of Bayreuth for four years in the office for disabled and chronically ill students. In his dissertation in the field of social anthropology, Carsten Mildner dealt with the diversity of deafness and deaf living environments in Benin, West Africa.
What do you associate with this year’s motto “Break the Bias”?
Jennifer Albert: “It’s important to be aware of what privileges you have, what ‘pigeonhole’ you come from and what prejudices and clichés arise from this. I believe that certain clichés have grown over generations. Identification with a generation and the associated clichés can sometimes be more present than the prejudice ‘women can do that/men can do that’. But the nice thing is: I can proactively counteract it and create change. Looking back, I have to say that my studies here helped me a lot. By critically questioning my own research, I am challenged to take a step back. If you start with yourself and your prejudices, it ends in a kind of chain reaction at best.”
Carsten Mildner: “All people have prejudices. Breaking with prejudice doesn’t necessarily mean eliminating prejudice, but being more conscious about it, understanding the prejudice. It’s not a goal that you achieve, it’s a way of designing and living interaction – in a professional as well as in a private context. I see it as the task of equal opportunities officers and diversity officers to raise awareness of discrimination issues. I also believe that you won’t get anywhere by assigning blame, but by providing information, suggestions and suggestions on how to deal with it.”
What do you take with you from previous experiences in the new role as Deputy Equal Opportunities Officer and Diversity Officer?
Jennifer Albert: The nice thing about medical technology is that not only the patients for whom we build the devices are diverse, but also the student body. Be it through immigration from Syria as a result of the war via people who have established themselves here in the second and third generation through Italian or Turkish guest worker families. In conversations, I notice how enriching these new perspectives can be, which can ultimately lead to new innovations. Things that were not technically considered before. At the same time, I have always encouraged the students in their being, to develop a network early on and to score points with their individuality. I am glad that various companies have now provided figures showing that companies with a diverse corporate culture make better profits and are more successful. Which of course should not become an end in itself, but must serve the people.
Carsten Mildner: I also keep coming across the strategy of communicating diversity through profit, utility and efficiency. I find that very difficult. Should a study come out soon that says ‘homogeneous teams work more stringently and successfully’ – shouldn’t we then strive for more diversity? We need equal access to education, research and the world of work. Not because it’s more efficient, but because it’s right.
Regarding the question: I take the principles of ethnographic research and lessons from development cooperation with me from my scientific work. Research participants are experts in their own field. Their knowledge and diverse experience must help shape the research process and the results. Projects imposed from outside are not sustainable. At the university, too, we can only change structures and the community by starting with the experiences of the individual. And inclusion is not about specific target groups, inclusion means all people.
Jennifer Albert: I agree, but in medical technology the argument of cost-effectiveness is important. Medicine is not yet as diverse as one might think. Diversity is forgotten, especially in the development of drugs and forms of therapy. That the average man is chosen for a study and side effects are thus excluded. In the end, the average woman no longer benefits from it because the standard values are set too high or too low. Diversity and globalization should be viewed positively in this regard.
Carsten Mildner: That’s true, of course – but for me it’s not necessarily a question of diversity management, but of clean scientific work. When I work scientifically, I have to properly understand the topics and people I work with. This includes the fact that a person is not the same as a man.
Jennifer Albert: Through our work on equality and diversity, we can bring additional impulses into the university, which groups may not yet have heard as much. Be it through the idea of inclusion, which is often only associated with people with physical disabilities, or people who define themselves as neither male nor female. With equality and diversity, we can and must do good pioneering work.
Carsten Mildner: If inclusion is understood correctly, it includes all people. Diversity is a social reality, inclusion is how we should deal with it. Inclusion is not a state we want to achieve, rather it is the process of acknowledging and respecting diversity and difference. An inclusive university does not exclude and brings advantages for everyone. From a statistical point of view, some topics are niche topics that we – and me as the diversity officer – need to get more publicity and recognition in order not to be excluded.
What are effective measures for more equality and more diversity?
Carsten Mildner: Of course, what distinguishes diversity from equality is that there is already greater visibility for equality. Both socially and on the homepage of the TH and in the university materials. People should feel addressed, their challenges recognized and know that there are opportunities to interact and seek advice. We need to proactively communicate to people who are often marginalized that they are welcome. There’s a lot to do here. Another difference is that there are figures on gender equality, which is not the case in many cases of diversity, nor is it necessarily desirable. I would like to get a qualitative overview of what people at the university experience in order to determine the current status and to see exactly how things can and should change.
Jennifer Albert: There are specific projects that were initiated by our equal opportunities officer, Daphne Reim. For example, this is it female professor program started by offering mentoring for women who want and are able to advance in their scientific careers. In addition, a cooperation for emergency childcare was launched. The aim here is to create a balance between family and job, for example in order to be able to offer emergency care. The equality plan that we are currently working on will certainly result in a number of other things.