Why Pride Month Matters To Science – Contract Pharma
June is Pride Month. The movement works to achieve equal civil rights and opportunities for LGBTQ+ individuals and encourages important conversations within science. For while LGBTQ+ people have always contributed to the discipline, they haven’t always been visible. And you can’t be what you can’t see.
History is saturated with outstanding examples of LGBTQ+ scientists. Many of whom however, spent their entire lives in fear, hiding their gender or sexuality. Mindsets and legislations may have changed, but they have been slow to do so.
In the UK today, 28% of LGBTQ+ scientists have considered leaving their jobs because of discrimination at work, saying they don’t feel represented in the sciences. The figure was even higher for trans scientists, with 50% admitting to feeling this way.
A world without LGBTQ+ scientists
Traditionally, notable LGBTQ+ figures have been downplayed by historians. However, the following people contributed significantly to science and offer a small snapshot into the importance of diversity and inclusion, illustrating why visibility and celebration is vital.
Leonardo De Vinci was a great painter, engineer, scientist, architect, theorist and sculptor. The world would undoubtedly have missed out without the significant contributions from the man whom historians say was “almost certainly gay.”
Alan Turing famously cracked the World War II Enigma Machine code. Yet he was prosecuted in 1952 for homosexual acts with most of his academic work covered up. Forced to undergo a hormonal treatment that made him impotent, he committed suicide only two years later in 1954.
Sally Ride was the first female American astronaut to travel into space. When the engineer and physicist died in 2012 it was revealed she’d spent the last 27 years in a relationship with her female childhood friend.
Sir Francis Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, Florence Nightingale and Alan L. Hart are just a few others who are also thought to have added to the rich and diverse tapestry of LGBTQ+ scientists that changed the world.
Practicing DE&I mindfulness
Whether as leaders or hiring managers, the annual observance of occasions such as Pride Month, or International Women’s Day, provides us with the opportunity to reflect on our diversity, equity and inclusion practices within business. They teach us that there are still vast gaps between the ideal, and the reality of how many people experience work.
Acknowledging and practicing DE&I mindfulness allows us to create strategies in which we can encourage more scientists into the discipline who might have been overlooked without the right diverse processes in place. This is essential when one considers that in March 2021, the Home Office added pharmacists to the shortage occupation list.
It is critical for future successes and breakthroughs in science that we do everything possible to guarantee inclusivity for all. My 3 Point Strategy highlights some of the basic things to think about for creating a more diverse hiring environment.
1. Prepare
“Who has the job description for the Head of Production job?” Does this sound familiar? All too often organizations are using outdated job content. This is your window for candidates to understand who and what you are as an organization. Stop the cycle and really define well what you need. Equally, recognize the language you use will attract different talent.
Harvard Business Review stated that typically women will not apply for a role unless they are 100% qualified for the role, whereas men are comfortable with only 60% fit. All too often organizations will put specific number of years experience, however with this changing talent market, how relevant is that now?
2. Sourcing Talent
Most organizations need to go and find talent proactively in this market. Sourcing talent in a very tight market is not easy at the best of times, therefore you do need to work hard to source diverse talent.
3. Limit Bias
When I worked for the UK government on resourcing best practices, as it was called, they started to remove pictures, names and location at that time. This was fifteen years ago and even now, although organizations know this is best practice, they still cannot deploy. Think about how you can upskill your hiring managers, with training on subjects including unconscious bias.
This is merely a starting point. However, education and training are one element that is critical for any organization aspiring to become more effective. Knowledge building is an important component to the success of your organization, not only to impart knowledge to colleagues, but also to provide a safe environment to challenge those potential biases.
Vector Partners was founded in 2021 by Neil Kelly, a talent acquisition specialist with extensive experience in the pharma CDMO sector. Vector focuses on building sustainable growth through creating the right talent acquisition approach to build the talent needed to drive businesses forward.
neil.kelly@vectorpartnersta.com; www.vectorpartnersta.com