Helle Hasager Damkier: “It’s still difficult to be a female Danish applicant for an academic position.”

It feels incredibly reassuring and comforting to have landed a permanent position. The temporary contracts were quite stressful, and the lack of stability weighed heavily on me. However, I became an associate professor early in my career. That’s not necessarily an advantage, because when applying for research funding, foundations often wonder why there isn’t more on my CV, and it becomes a bit of a vicious cycle.

The hardest part of being an associate professor is finding enough time. There’s more of everything – except time for research. Teaching and administrative duties, in particular, take up a lot of space for me. I’m course director for “Functional Anatomy and Histology,” the largest course in the medical programme. I enjoy it. It’s exciting and a lot of fun. And I can somewhat comfortably let the teaching part take up space in my work life. If I were a postdoc, too much teaching would have negatively impacted my CV and, consequently, my career prospects. Because research is still what matters most – the number of grants and publications.

I can tell I don’t come from an academic family. Especially in social settings. Or maybe it’s because I’m introverted. And from Northern Jutland. I’m not used to moving in these circles. But growing up in a family of self-employed entrepreneurs gave me drive, and I think my background can bring new perspectives to research.

The small victories matter to me. The first article published. The first grant – or every time I receive a grant, because it doesn’t happen often. And the first time I was invited to write a textbook: “Anatomy of the Head, Neck, and Internal Organs.” It’s still part of the curriculum for medical and dental students. That makes me happy and proud.

I received Biomedicine’s “Diversity Award” in 2021. My former PhD student had nominated me because I supported her return from maternity leave and focused on providing her with flexible working conditions and the same career development opportunities as others in the research group. I was incredibly pleased with the nomination, but it’s striking that just four years ago, following the law, guidelines, and common sense could earn you an award.

Maybe I should have been a professor, male, and in my 50s for them to take me seriously. I was in my late 30s when I became chair of the University Doctors’ Association, part of the Association of Medical Specialists in the Danish Medical Association. It never really worked out. I simply lacked the weight and authority in that setting – something that apparently comes naturally to middle-aged men. In a similar way, I’ve experienced how having a medical degree gives you a bit of an advantage here at the faculty. Luckily, I do have that.

I’m a workhorse. I work hard. That’s definitely something I picked up at home: that success depends on you. It doesn’t come by itself. I don’t have a family or children of my own, so I’ve had the opportunity to work a lot – though maybe it’s the other way around: perhaps all the work came at a cost?

As a female university employee, I’ve probably overcompensated. Done more of everything. Today, I’m very conscious of how I present myself as a researcher and teacher, and I pay close attention to what I pass on to the next generation. Fortunately, younger researchers seem determined that things shouldn’t stay the way they were, and that there is a more natural equality between the genders.

Women are really put to the test in job interviews. I’ve sat on several hiring committees, and my experience is that women have to prove themselves more than men. It seems that men often get through based on their potential, while female applicants more often have to meet most of the listed criteria in the broad job postings. It’s still difficult to be a female Danish applicant for an academic position.

Maybe we need to take an even closer look at the composition of hiring committees. It’s fine that there are equal numbers of men and women, but it becomes problematic if there’s too much imbalance in job seniority. I once sat on a hiring committee with only male professors, a female vice-dean, and only female associate professors, one of whom had just been hired. We were hiring at the associate professor level. That’s clearly imbalanced and problematic.

The goal is to become a professor. It has been since I chose not to pursue medicine. It’s not about the salary. It’s about recognition. The work I do now is the work of a professor. Some of my former male PhD peers have long since become professors, and my old classmates from medical school have long since become senior consultants. An associate professorship is a perfectly respectable final position, but I want a little more.

Contact

Associate Professor Helle Hasager Damkier
Aarhus University, Department of Biomedicine
Phone: +45 87 16 76 32
Email: hd@biomed.au.dk