Lift Up: Women in Life Sciences

The Lift Up mission is simple: connect, inspire, and champion women from academia to C-Suite across the Life Sciences. We’re working on building an international community of women to help lift each other up and find equality in their careers.

For example, women only make up 8% of CEOs in Life Science organisations. It’s theorised this comes from a range of factors, from not enough women earning STEM degrees (37% Female/63% Male), to a lack of progression opportunities. Ultimately, this results in women either dropping out or watching their career plateau. We want to change that.

So what sets Lift Up apart from any other female-focused group?

We’re not trying to profit off levelling the playing field.

Lift Up will always be free and accessible to women at every level; all you have to do is sign up. If you’re interested, sign up to our Lift Up Community. On the other hand, if you want more information before committing, keep reading.

• The Aim of Lift Up
• Typical barriers women face in Life Sciences
• Where Lift Up plans to go
• Join Lift Up, Equalise Gender Diversity

The Aim of Lift Up

Lift Up is being run for women, by women. Our purpose is to provide the women in Life Sciences with the information and connections they need to .

Something we’ve experienced (and you’re no doubt aware of) is that there are barriers to entry at almost every level of progression. By creating a cohesive community of women with a range of experiences, we can help each other progress through our careers.

We’ll host seminars, develop resources, and share tactics on how to work effectively in the Life Sciences industry. Some pressing questions we’re already aware of are:

• What skills do I need to progress my career?
• How can I close the gender pay gap?
• How do my personality traits affect progression?
• What changes do we need to see within companies?

Common Life Science Barriers

For one, it’s harder for women to feel represented in Executive or C-Suite roles. As mentioned earlier, female leaders make up less than 10% of CEOs. With this lack of representation, it makes it harder for women to visualise themselves in these top-level positions.

By connecting women in executive roles with entry and mid-levels, Lift Up hopes to increase visibility and make top-tier progression more accessible to women in Life Sciences.

Another point to be aware of is not enough women are getting into STEM fields. It’s been well-documented that women are traditionally steered towards Non-STEM roles, but that’s not the only reason.

In fact, one study found that too much emphasis on getting women into STEM may be counter-intuitive. Dr Kugler suggests it contributes to the stereotype of it being a masculine field — despite the fact that women are successful.

Perhaps there are subconscious attitude issues that need restructuring. For example, men are more likely to apply for roles they don’t fully satisfy, whereas women feel they need to check every box. There may also be unconscious gender bias at play, since only 18% of women with a higher science degree get employed in their field, compared to 33% of men.

It’s likely to be a combination of factors, and that’s what Lift Up intends to explore. As we grow, we want to hear from women who have achieved success, so more women can develop their careers and begin changing the narrative.

In our experience, we found a need for:

• Getting more women in Life Sciences
• Keeping women in Life Sciences
• Progressing women into C-Suite roles

Where Lift Up plans to go

While our first LinkedIn Live is more of an introduction to Lift Up, we have plans to release regular podcasts and blog posts, each discussing specific issues. We’ll also set up groups to facilitate communication and provide easy access to our developing content library.

Our long-term goals include organising Live Events, Meet-Ups, and Mentorship Programmes. These are intended to help build professional networks, develop critical skills, and give women a leg-up in their Life Science careers.

Join Lift Up, Equalise Gender Diversity

Where some groups may ask you for referrals, subscription fees, and all the rest, Lift Up never will. We’re a meritocracy, so you’ll always know that you’re getting top-quality information from reputable sources.

Want to have your say?

Sign up to our Lift Up Community.