Letícia Zago

    Age: 25 years old
    Current course: Master at Education of Physics (IFSC/USP)

    Letícia, tell us about your academic experience.
    I graduated in Exact Sciences at São Carlos Institute of Physics (IFSC/USP), and since the start of this year I am doing my Master's at Education of Physics at USP Institute of Physics (IF/USP) and I have already taught classes in primary education institutions. During my graduation, I did a six month internship in the United States and completed part of the course in Portugal.

    Why did you choose a scientific career?
    I have always liked the physics and teaching areas. Initially I would do my graduation in Physics, but, while talking with teachers, I fell in love with the idea of teaching because it is more ample and includes subjects as biology, chemistry, education psicology, among others.

    Currently, has the presence of women in exact sciences been increasing? How do you see it in your own course?
    I think so. In my course there is a greater number of women. In other undergraduation courses at IFSC, I also believe this number has increased, even though it is not equal.

    Would you say there is any kind of gender segregation or discrimination, even if it is subtle? If yes, would you say happens unconsciously?
    There is and I believe it occurs unconsciously. In my case, when I search for a school to teach, I feel there is prejudice. Inside the classroom it also exists, because I have suffered prejudice when a student said I was not fit to teach physics because I am a woman. I have friends that have also suffered from it in school’s administrative area. They graduated in Exact Sciences with habilitation in Physics, but were not hired because they were women.

    An academic career, with graduation, master and doctorate, most of the time stabilizes at 30 years old. How does it impact you? Does it depend on the gender?
    Sometimes we can do graduation and post-graduation without stopping them. I do not know if there is much difference between genders.

    Letícia, you got pregnant in your second year of graduation. How did you manage both pregnancy and studies?
    My child was born at the start of the third year of my graduation. I was lucky she was born on vacation. Considering my graduation, I had a lot of support from my colleagues and most teachers understood that I had to breastfeed her from time to time. The fact that I did a night course also helped. So I could easily breastfeed her and go to classes. My grades actually got better during my third year because my time was sacred. The only difficult was that some teachers did not understand I had to take care of a baby, but most of them understood I could not go to some classes. My daughter spent a lot of time at IFSC. I had a lot of help from my teachers and colleagues. The University’s support was very helpful, because I could leave her at the campus daycare. Besides, I had many assistances, and the scholarships were important, mostly because of time mobility they granted me.