Women in Herpetology - 50 stories from around the world

How did the idea for the book come about?

It was a very long process. Since I started my career as a researcher, I often share my experiences with my friends. For example, about my field research or my entire - sometimes difficult - journey to become a herpetologist. Many of them found my stories fascinating and inspiring. They suggested publishing them in a book and even offered to write them on my behalf. I wasn't confident enough because I thought that others might have more interesting or inspiring stories to tell. However, the idea of trying anyway kept coming up. Still, I felt that it would be biased towards myself to only write a personal story about myself. That's why I came up with the idea of bringing people from all over the world together and collecting all their stories in a book. I shared this idea with Dr Itzue Wendolin Caviedes Solis during our hike at Arthur Pass in New Zealand in 2020 after attending the 9th World Congress of Herpetology in Dunedin. Itzue and I first met at the 8th World Herpetological Congress in China in 2016 and became best friends over the years. Later that year, I invited Dr Sinlan Poo to join our team. The three of us met in November 2020 and started to make a concrete plan. This meeting started our journey for this book, which we recently published. A huge relief! We feel like we just gave birth to our "pandemic baby"!

What guidelines were given for the stories in the book?

Originally, we wanted to give strict guidelines in order to have a "common thread" running through the book. In the end, however, we decided to do the opposite. We wanted to give the authors as much freedom as possible: they were to decide for themselves which part of their story they wanted to tell, how personal this information was or which aspects of their own career or life story they wanted to focus on. In this way, we were ultimately able to bring together this colourful diversity in our book.

How did you select the contributing authors?

Our main aim was to focus on the diversity of women in the field of herpetology. To achieve this, we wanted to bring together 50 women from 50 countries and regions from all continents, as this would represent about a quarter of all countries and regions in the world. It was important for us to represent diversity in all its forms and dimensions. Therefore, these 50 women should represent a diverse range of professions, career stages and institutions. In the beginning, it seemed like a daunting task because we didn't even know how to find these 50 women with the above criteria in our field. It was quite challenging because for some regions we hardly found any female herpetologists. In other countries, there were so many female herpetologists that we had to make a selection. In the end, however, we were successful: our book is the first project to bring together 50 female herpetologists and 17 female illustrators from all over the world, highlighting the wonderful collaboration between women in science and women in the arts.

What story do you tell in the book?

When someone asks me, "Why do you study amphibians?", I usually answer, "I got caught and then I caught myself." That's also what I generally shared in the book. The story of how I discovered my passion for amphibians and reptiles and Indonesian biodiversity in general. When I was a kid, I didn't know what a scientist was or that it was a real profession. Therefore, I had never dreamed of becoming a researcher. With my family situation at that time, my goal after getting a university degree was clearly to find a well-paid job to support my parents. A very practical reason that was very common in my hometown. I did not expect my life to change significantly after participating in a three-month herpetological expedition on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia with researchers from the US, Canada and Indonesia. Now I am happy to call myself a scientist who studies amphibians and reptiles - a group of animals I used to dislike, but which became my "lucky charm" and took me to numerous places in the Indonesian archipelago and around the world. Through my story, I want to share with readers that one small event in a person's life can change the course of their entire life. Since life is always unpredictable, I believe that it is much more important to enjoy the journey than to focus solely on the destination.

Why did you become a herpetologist and choose this challenging career path?

I think it's simply because of my love of nature. And why amphibians? Perhaps because of the three-month expedition I took part in at the time, which showed me how research on amphibians and reptiles works. And because I learnt that amphibians are often overlooked as research subjects - compared to tigers or orangutans, for example. I used to think amphibians were disgusting, and back then I much preferred plants. I just didn't know that many things about amphibians before I saw them with my own eyes during this Sulawesi expedition and ended up liking them. The more I learnt about amphibians, the more fascinating they became to me. This situation reminded me of the Indonesian proverb "tak kenal maka tak sayang" ("What you don't know, you won't love"). By studying amphibians, I understand how fascinating Indonesian biodiversity is and that much more needs to be done to protect and conserve it. I also realised that many scientists from abroad come to Indonesia to do biodiversity research for the same reasons. As an Indonesian, I thought that I should be the one who cares more about Indonesian biodiversity and understands it better. Therefore, I decided to choose this career path to have in-depth knowledge about Indonesian biodiversity and use it to contribute to conservation efforts. I also think that passing on my knowledge to the next generation is just as important as the research itself. And although I am currently based in Germany, I continue to focus on my research in my home country, Indonesia.

Is it common for women from different cultures and regions to work in countries like Germany, the USA or other countries where there are large natural history museums or research institutes?

I think it varies a lot. I think everyone has their own reasons why they choose to work in their home country or elsewhere to do what they want to do. Either way is fine. I know some colleagues who come from developing countries but work in other countries, and some who have stayed in their home countries. And all of these colleagues are doing excellent work. But why do we rarely hear from researchers who are based in less developed countries? The answer could also vary, but I assume it's because they don't put much emphasis on being visible outside their regions. They may just want to focus on doing good work for the society they are in. Or they have various limitations that make them less visible to the world, not to mention access to social media platforms. So it was important to me to have them in our book as well. We want to help these female scientists become more visible to the world and get recognition for their contribution to the industry. In addition, we want to help them meet and network with others so that they can share their knowledge or research interests. And most importantly, we don't want them to feel like they are alone!

Equal rights are not just an issue in Germany. In many countries, it is even more difficult for women to pursue a research career. Does the book address these issues?

Indeed it does! Although it is generally improving, gender inequality, including in STEM subjects, is still a major concern worldwide. Looking back on my experiences, it was not easy for me to get to where I am now, especially because fieldwork is an integral part of my research. I fully realise that the road continues to be even more challenging. What contributes to this problem? Social structures, cultures, norms and traditions can influence gender inequality. There is also a lack of role models, especially those who look like us. When I started my journey in herpetology, I only knew two Indonesian female herpetologists. We want to help improve the situation through this book. Our 50 female authors from 50 countries and regions kindly share their personal stories that combine their gender, cultural background and professional journey in pursuit of a career in herpetology. We believe that every voice counts and every story is important. This book gives us hope that everyone can be who they want to be, and that being yourself is not only accepted, but valued! Everyone should be valued for their ability and competence and not because they are a woman or some other label that society gives them. That is why we will use all profits from book sales to set up a scholarship for students from underrepresented backgrounds. Our biggest dream is to create a world where oppression is fought and not perpetuated. A world where everyone is welcome and where we all feel like we belong.

How was the whole book funded?

When my two colleagues and I started this book project, we were aware that we had no money for it. We did it anyway because we believe it is an important project. I also think our sincerity was infectious. We were successful in getting 50 contributors from all over the world to work together on this book project. Later, we were able to convince 17 out of more than 100 illustrators to work pro bono on this project. In an ideal scenario, everyone who contributed to this book project, such as authors, illustrators, editors, book designers, proofreaders and many more, should receive compensation for their time and effort. However, Jess Jardim-Wedepohl our illustrator from South Africa said: "This book was a project from the heart for everyone involved!". None of us received any money for our contribution, except for the book designer, who we paid from donations we collected. Nevertheless, this is disproportionate to the amount of work our book designer put into this project. We are therefore very grateful to everyone who donated their time to this project. This book was made possible by everyone's contribution.

How were the people selected to receive a scholarship?

This book is the result of friendships and networks formed during meetings such as conferences. It is difficult to be a minority in the toxic world of academia. Getting to know other people through these meetings has allowed us to feel that we are not alone. Representation is certainly important and meeting people in our field who look like us increases our sense of belonging and reduces the risk of stereotyping. In fact, the three editors also met us at a conference. Attending conferences has increased our sense of belonging and allowed us to meet collaborators and make friends from all over the world. For this reason, we would like to make it possible for a scholarship holder to attend one of these events through our book prizes. We want the students who receive our scholarship to experience the benefits we have had. The World Congress of Herpetology is held every four to five years in different regions. In order to use the funds as efficiently as possible, we would like to support one woman from each region where the congress is held to attend. For the 10th World Congress of Herpetology in Malaysia in 2024, we are therefore looking for a suitable candidate from the Southeast Asian region. Scholarships will be awarded to a female student and a female PhD student who will present a paper or poster at the congress.