Philippa Stevenson: Women scientists meet to share thrill of discovery

The scientists sitting in front of me have got the fever.

It appears to affect their brains and be a lifelong condition judging by the number of years some have been afflicted.

But they couldn't be happier, these women who this week aim to spread their excitement of a career and life spent diving into the unknown and trying to explain what they find there.

For the next three days Hamilton will be awash with even more lab coat wearers than usual as it plays host to a conference entitled Science Fever. That attendees may choose to wear lipstick, don a skirt and need childcare facilities is entirely expected by conference organisers, the Association for Women in the Sciences.

The 20-year-old organisation's fifth conference is being held by and for women scientists with a mix of presentations on some of the scientific issues of the day, and workshops aimed at helping career-minded, female boffins to improve their work habits, personal skills and chances of professional success.

A few days ago, I sat in a room bristling with PhDs at one of the last pre-conference meetings of the organising committee. The doctorates didn't seem to have made it any easier to pull together the many threads of a busy three-day event.

I wondered whether women make different science or, perhaps, science different than their male counterparts?

Volcanologist Barbara Hobden thinks women do offer a unique perspective to science. They have a different way of thinking "and it's always good to have diversity," she says.

But I'm told a host of ways that women scientists find it hard to get their views and skills appreciated or acknowledged. They range from the familiar - career paths that are disrupted by family responsibilities - to the less common but just as career-limiting - networking stymied by not being introduced to the "right" people.

AgResearch scientist Liz Carpenter says a lot of women like the communication side of science "but it's not looked upon as work. It [accomplishment] is how many papers you've had published, how many dollars you've brought in."

Enabling women to contribute fully to science is a challenge being taken up worldwide. Sparked by controversy, Harvard University has just committed US$50 million ($74 million) over 10 years to initiatives designed to remove impediments to women's advancement in science at the university.

A taskforce found problems with the way women pursuing science and engineering at Harvard were treated "at every point along the 'pipeline' from undergraduates, to graduate students, to post-doctoral fellows, to the faculty ranks".

On a less grand scale, the Awis members say their network provides valuable support to women scientists facing career challenges. It is also a forum in which they can share their enthusiasm for science.

I asked the scientists what turned them on to science in the first place and the answers bubbled up as though the crucial moment was yesterday.

Waikato University earth sciences research fellow Penny Cooke remembered being a ho-hum student until a high school lesson on "scientific ice-cream". She never looked back. "After that I was always going to be a scientist."

Biologist Cathy Bunting, also of Waikato University, marvelled at a golden stripe on a cicada and wondered how the insect had made it "without even thinking about it. Scientists try to find out why - and half the time they can't even see the thing they are working on."

In a move designed to share such delight and capture the imagination of a new generation of women, 14 high school students from around the country are being sponsored to the conference where speakers will talk on climate change, genetic engineering, earthquakes, volcanoes and communicating science.

The messages seem likely to fall on fertile ground if essays by the girls are any guide. "Scientists are the explorers of the modern era, delving deep into the unknown," wrote one.

"The prospect that your experiment might explode," one excited girl said while another wondered "how any sane person could go through life and not wonder why things are and how they work".

And one girl definitely had the fever. "It's as if you are standing in front of a closed door and science is a key that helps to unlock it," she wrote.

Now that's the kind of infection more people should catch.