On Monday 15th March 2021, a tondo portrait of Rosalind Franklin was unveiled in a virtual session at Hampstead Manor. Mount Anvil commissioned artist Keziah Burt to make the portrait, which depicts Franklin framed by formations of DNA – whose structure she was instrumental in discovering. Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958) was a British scientist who helped discover the structure of DNA, and provided insight of the structure of viruses. Without her work, we would’ve struggled to understand today’s pandemic. Yet, her name has been brushed over in history books, and her accomplishments overlooked and replaced by male scientists.

The tondo commissioned is a way of honouring her during International Women’s Month, and Lisa Ravenscroft, Chief Marketing Officer at Mount Anvil commented that “we hope that it will inspire women to follow in her footsteps.” Keziah Burt made the sculpture out of bronze, and during the discussions that took place after the unveiling, she said how she hopes that a young girl will walk past the sculpture and realise that women can be in STEM, and that that could be her.

It’s important to recognise women’s previous work in science, as these women were successful in battling a patriarchal system, and representation of women in STEM fields matters to young children. Young girls will feel more encouraged to go in STEM subjects if they have role models that they can look up to and feel inspired by. Yet how can this be possible if the narrative in science is still dominated by men? Whilst there have been movements to help women find more jobs in STEM, encouragement needs to be started from a younger age, so that girls who have a particular passion or talent in STEM subjects are encouraged to pursue those at a later age.

“90% of the people who write information on Wikipedia are men”

One of the panellists at the discussion, Dr Nicky Dee, who is a Research Associate at the Institute for Manufacturing, said that 90% of the people who write information on Wikipedia are men, which highlights that we see the world through one perspective only. Women are erased from history, and we hardly hear about women in science, so commemorations such as the Rosalind Franklin artwork are important in being able to change this.

“Only 24% of available roles in STEM are taken up by women”

Dr Dee also stated that only 24% of available roles in STEM are taken up by women, which shows that we still have a long way to go to achieve equality in that field of work.

Not only should we be celebrating women scientists in the past, but we should also be celebrating women’s contributions to science today. Most recently, two COVID19 vaccines were able to be produced because of the work from two female scientists in the USA.

America’s black female scientist, Dr Kizzmekia Corbett was instrumental in developing the Moderna vaccine. Dr Corbett directed the NIH’s vaccine research to begin clinical trials with Moderna and was produced at unprecedented speed. The Moderna vaccine is over 94% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID19 after the second dose. With Dr Corbett’s efforts, the vaccine wouldn’t have been possible.

Additionally, female scientist Dr Jansen, who developed the first cervical cancer vaccine, also led a team of scientist at Pfizer and produced an equally effective COVID19 vaccine.

This knowledge isn’t very well-known, yet we should be celebrating women’s achievements in STEM today, in the hopes that this will encourage more young women to pursue careers in STEM.

Jasmin Lemarie

Rosalind Franklin, such a big name with not much recognition even today, with one of the panellists not knowing who this big figure was until reading a story to her daughter. Rosalind Franklin, for me is a big female inspiration for STEM subjects and careers. Discovering DNA is such a huge thing and yet so many do not know her name? Men in STEM are offered a lot more recognition for their findings and are given a lot more opportunities.

Of course, back in the days when Franklin was a scientist, it was a lot different to what we see now but we are still so far away from seeing equality within STEM. How can make this change? This view that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics is a male career… what can we do to shift this narrative?

There is a shift for girls when they grow up and see boys studying the subject more, viewing this as a “Boys subject” so the panel told us that they saw a difference when a female attended an all-girl’s school; they did not experience this stereotypical view when picking their subjects as it was all girl’s who were studying them to begin with.

35% women are taking up STEM courses at University.

Less than 20% of computer science, engineering and technology courses taken by women.

“boys and girls perform very similarly in science, technology and maths subjects”

“There is a misconception that boys are better than girls at STEM subjects when they are younger and that is why they are more likely to continue these subjects into higher and further education. If you look at the reality, boys and girls perform very similarly in science, technology and maths subjects” says Tulip Siddiq.

“A million women currently in STEM jobs. It is a milestone that we have reached relatively recently but that equates to only 24% of the available roles” Hampstead Manor Speaker

“There’s a stark reminder of how much science has lost by excluding and discouraging women over many decades” Tulip Siddiq.

“These designs are designed for the benefits of a man”

Dr Nikki Dee brings up very important points about design and manufacturing, in terms of household cupboards and car seatbelts. These designs are designed for the benefits of a man. Especially seatbelts… this design is dangerous for pregnant woman which is why there is guidelines to use when pregnant.

“If we can’t even get these simple things right, how are we going to address some of these bigger things like climate change” Says Dr Dee.

As we are very aware, climate change is a very extreme and critical issue we must deal with every day as everything is constantly changing because of not taking care of our planet enough so how are we going to address these huge and impactful issues when toxic masculinity is still very present?

Tori Scott

Featured image courtesy of Cyndy Sims Parr via Flickr. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here.

I'm currently a second year English student at the University of Nottingham, and I'm aiming to be a journalist once I graduate. I'm really passionate about writing on topics such as politics, news, and human rights issues.

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