Equal opportunities
Studying chemistry, starting a family, or both? Really wanting to establish yourself as a female chemist in a man's world? Accepting a lower salary than your male colleagues? A job in a library? Or perhaps following in Madame Curie's footsteps after all?
These are all questions that have concerned GDCh members for many years. For 25 years, the GDCh has been explicitly committed to equal opportunities in chemistry. It celebrated this anniversary in 2025 with various activities. These included issue no. 5, 2025, of Nachrichten aus der Chemie, the JCF interview series "Children and Career" and the GDCh anniversary event "25 Years of Commitment to Equal Opportunities in Chemistry" on 1 December 2025 at the Deutsches Museum in Munich.
We, the members of the SEC, also collected personal accounts, stories, anecdotes, photographs and historical documents relating to studying chemistry and choosing a career in the 1950s to 1980s. The 25 contributions are well worth reading (see below). They were published as a brochure on 1 December 2025.
