International Women´s Day 2025 – Accelerate Action

A Day in the Life of a Woman in Academia

 

International Women’s Day is a time for reflection—not just on the achievements of women, but also on the challenges they continue to navigate. Rather than listing statistics in isolation, let’s walk through a day in the life of a fictional, yet all-too-real, woman in academia.

 

7:00 AM – The Balancing Act Begins (1,2)

She wakes up early and prepares for a full day at the institute. But first she prepares breakfast, gets her children ready for daycare and school and quickly checks the fridge to see what she urgently needs to buy later.

  • In 2022, women in Germany did 44.3% more unpaid work than men: the Gender Care Gap.
  • Women experience more difficulties in achieving work-life-balance.

 

9:30 AM – Navigating Biases in the Workplace (3,4,5,23)

When she arrives at her institute, she prepares for an important research meeting with external collaborators she has never met in person before. But before she can settle in, she is mistaken for an administrative assistant.
At the meeting, she presents her latest research findings. She is excited – but after just a few minutes, a male colleague interrupts her and repeats what she has just said.

Later, she sees a group of male colleagues in the hallway and overhears them joking that she has lost her dedication to her job since having children and is no longer as hardworking; it would be best if she stayed at home and took care of the children.

  • The McKinsey report “Women in the Workplace” shows that women are more likely than men to be mistaken for someone of lower status and are also twice as likely as men to be interrupted in a professional setting.
  • Women who identify as BiPOC (Black, Indigenous & People of Colour) are even more likely to be considered administrative staff.
  • Studies show that pregnant women and mothers are often seen as less competent and less committed to their job: the Maternal Wall Bias.

 

12:30 PM – The Mental Load never Pauses (2,6,7,8,19,24)

She quickly buys a sandwich from the bakery and eats it on the way to the grocery store. She would have liked to go to the cafeteria with her colleagues, but her responsibilities don’t allow it today. At the grocery store, she buys the most essential items that she had planned to buy in the morning and on the way back, she quickly jumps into a flower store to pick up a farewell bouquet for a colleague in the institute, who has her last day at work this week. She remembers that a female co-worker asked her to sign the welcome card for the new colleague. She was originally asked to organize the card and a gift, but as she was already taking care of the flowers for her leaving colleague, she refused, but felt uncomfortable about it.
A reminder pops up on her phone that she has to go to the pharmacy in the evening to pick up the medication she ordered for her child.

  • Research indicates that women, particularly mothers, shoulder a significant portion of the household mental load.
  • Women are more often assigned extra tasks and more likely to take them on, but because the bulk of this extra work is “non-promotable,” women continue to progress slower than men in their career development.

 

2:00 PM – Recognition and the Gender Citation Gap (9,10,11,12,13,14,21)

Back in her office, she sees in her emails that the paper has been published to which she contributed significantly, but her name is not among the authors. This realization frustrates her and at the same time feeds her doubts as to whether she is actually good enough and belongs in academia.
Later, she receives the recommendation letter she had asked her supervisor for. She notices that the letter reads somewhat differently from the letters she has seen from male peers. While her peers are described with attributes such as “exceptional” or “innovative”, her letters contain words such as “creative” and “helpful”.

  • Studies show that women are mentioned significantly less often than men as authors in research teams. Even if they publish under their own name, studies show that women are cited less frequently; the reasons for this gender citation gap are manifold, cannot be broken down to a single factor and are still the subject of research.
  • A 2022 study comparing particle physics and social sciences, contrary to many other studies, does not find weaker letters of recommendation for women; in fact, they are more often described as “brilliant”. However, the authors also point out that this does not mean that the letters of recommendation are generally free of gender bias, and suggest that one possible reason is that the authors of the letters are aware of the bias against women in STEM subjects and intentionally emphasize brilliance to counteract negative stereotypes.
  • Even AI such as ChatGPT has been shown to reproduce gender-based language biases.

 

3:00 PM – The Mental Load never pauses – for real (25,26)

Before she heads to the lab, she picks up the phone and calls home. As she knew that she would be staying late at the institute today, she has asked her mother to pick up her child from daycare and prepare something to eat; her other child is coming home from school on their own.
She speaks briefly to her mother, asks her child how they did at daycare and gets an update on the homework from her older child.
Even though she is usually well supported by her spouse, her family and support services, the dual demands of family and work require a great deal of mental capacity from her.

  • A study shows that 4 to 7 years after the birth or adoption of their first child, a notable proportion of new parents – 43% of new mothers and 23% of new fathers – leave full-time employment in the STEM sector.
  • In 2023, 67% of all mothers with at least one child under the age of 18 worked part-time, but only 9% of all fathers. For employees without children, the differences are still evident, but less (39% to 16%).

 

5:00 PM – The invisible Labour of Academia (15,16,17,18,19,20,21)

After two productive hours in the lab, she returns to her office. A PhD student knocks on her door, feeling unsure about her future in science. She listens, offers guidance, and shares her own experiences. She is happy that she is able to support other women in making their way in science and tackling the challenges. At the same time, she is looking for mentoring programs herself to find guidance for her own career development.

As the day winds down, an email arrives: another request to join a diversity or outreach committee.

  • Studies show that 70% of women say mentorship played a crucial role in their careers.
  • In fields where women are underrepresented, they are asked more frequently to act as mentors. While mentoring is essential for supporting the next generation, it also creates additional work for women, often without formal registration.
  • Beyond mentorship, the presence of role models is equally important; research shows that they are more relevant to women than men. They encourage women to pursue STEM studies, and female students who have female mentors or professors are more likely to stay in STEM fields because when they see someone like them in a leadership role, they reinforce the belief that they, too, belong in science. Increasing the visibility of women in senior academic positions is a crucial step towards greater gender equality in science.
  • Women, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds, are disproportionately asked to take on service work—whether it’s mentoring, EDI initiatives, or student support. While these contributions are important, they often come at the expense of research time, and they rarely count toward promotions.

 

7:00 PM – Breaking the Glass Ceiling in STEM (22)

As she finishes work and shuts her laptop, she thinks about the new colleague for whom she had the card signed at lunchtime. She has only seen him briefly and he seems nice, but she thinks it’s a pity that yet another leadership position has been assigned to a man.

  • In STEM fields, women are still underrepresented in leadership positions, making it harder for them to influence systemic change.

 

Note on the content: This is, of course, an accumulation of many challenges that do not necessarily apply to every woman, but may apply partially or completely. Also, the studies and articles referred to are neither exclusively related to physics, nor to the academic sector, nor to Europe; there is simply not enough data available to depict a “prototypical” day of a female physicist at a German university. It is also not about reflecting 100% of reality (or explicitly referring to the conditions in ML4Q), but about creating an awareness of the challenges women face on a daily basis compared to how men statistically experience their everyday lives. So if some scenarios seem a bit awkward and not appropriate for your personal working environment, imagine an environment in any company.
Of course, an awareness of the challenges has grown at the universities and within the cluster, and helpful and successful measures have been established to support women and members of other underrepresented groups. But we can do more, there are still plenty of challenges – and I am convinced that we have all the tools we need to continue to tackle these challenges successfully.

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