Our BioTalent Social network joined us for a Pride-themed webinar session, ‘Pride in Life Sciences: Tolerance vs. Acceptance.’ We spoke about how the life sciences industry is either accepting or simply tolerant towards the LGBTQIA+ community, with 67% of our audience feeling as though there was more acceptance, and 33% leaning towards tolerance.
Anindya Sen illustrated how there is some acceptance for both gay and lesbian community members due to the cumulative representation in the media and online. However, beyond this, it is more diverse; acceptance should not be limited to just a few groups in the community.
Additionally, we spoke about the importance of being your true, authentic self at work. Mark Charbonneau posited that being your authentic self often determines on how established you are at work: stakes can feel higher if you are new and haven’t established credibility. We asked our audience whether they felt they could be their authentic selves at work; while 70% agreed, the remaining 30% were either unsure or felt as though they couldn’t be their true selves.
From all at BioTalent Social we would like to thank our fabulous panel for all their insights, as well as our wonderful audience, many of whom joined us for the virtual networking session.