‘TO BE
JUDGED
ON MERIT.’
Sylvia Earle is an oceanographer and
National Geographic explorer-in-residence.
Her efforts in ocean conservation earned her the
title “Hero for the Planet” from Time magazine.
“Equal opportunity. To be judged on merit.
The change is not just how women are regarded
by men, but how women regard themselves.
You know, it starts with you.”43%
of women—compared
with 23% of men—in
the U.S. have taken at
least one year off with
no earnings, usually to
tend a child or provide
other caregiving, says
the Institute for Wom-
en’s Policy Research.
Census Bureau data
show women make 80
cents for each dollar
men make. But when
the institute factored
in women’s time away
from full-time work in
a 15-year period, the
gap widened to 49
cents for each dollar.The media portrayal
of women as objects.
It would be a lot easier
to move forward with
where we need to go
if the message from
mainstream media
supported women’s
roles as the keep-
ers of wisdom and
cooperation.AN OCEAN ECOLOGIST,
GIDDENS IS A FELLOW
AT THE NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC SOCI-
ETY’S EXPLORATION
TECHNOLOGY LAB,
WHERE SHE’S DEVEL-
OPING A RESEARCH
PROGRAM TO ASSESS
BIODIVERSITY AND
THE HEALTH OF
ECOSYSTEMS IN THE
DEEP SEA.
What I would like to see
is that, in the next 10
years, if we really have
made it, we won’t even
have to talk about it.
I think that’s really the
point that we want to
get to. I am a little sur-
prised at the big deal
this has made, that I
am the third woman to
win the Nobel Prize in
Physics; I had not even
realized that I was. But
also what I don’t want—
and what I do sort of
see—is this huge pen-
dulum swing: To try
to get women ahead,
we’re leaving some
men behind. There
are far more women
at university now than
we’ve ever had, and in
many of the disciplines
women are outnum-
bering the men now.
At some point we have
to start worrying about
why boys are not going.IN HER 20S SHE BEGAN
WORK ON TECHNOLOGY
THAT REVOLUTIONIZED
THE USE OF LASERS —
AND WON HER A SHARE
OF THE 2018 NOBEL
PRIZE IN PHYSICS. TO-
DAY SHE’S A PHYSICS
PROFESSOR.
DONNA
STRICKLAND
JONATHA
GIDDENS
I think the most import-
ant thing is that there
be many more women
in positions of author-
ity and power. That will
be the conduit of many
other things that we
all need, such as equal
opportunity, equal pay,
space, and respect. So,
many more women in
positions of authority
and power in all sec-
tors, public and private
alike, in the developed
and developing worlds.
If you give me a sec-
ond choice, I would say:
at least seven years,
if not more, of quality
education for all girls,
particularly in the least
developed countries.
Because young girls
with education will find
themselves with more
parity with boys. We
observe, in the eco-
nomic research that we
do, that they will tend
to marry later in life,
will typically have fewer
children in the course
of their life, and be able
to make better choices
in general.ON FORBES MAGA-
ZINE’S 2018 LIST OF
THE WORLD’S MOST
POWERFUL WOMEN,
INTERNATIONAL MONE-
TARY FUND MANAGING
DIRECTOR LAGARDE
RANKED THIRD BEHIND
TWO HEADS OF STATE:
GERMANY’S ANGELA
MERKEL AND BRITAIN’S
THERESA MAY.
CHRISTINE
LAGARDE
What Is the Most Important Change That Needs
Q: to Happen for Women in the Next 10 Years?
Î
108 INTERVIEWS HAVE BEEN EDITED FOR LENGTH AND CLARITY.