Ada Yonath Quotes

I've always said that I didn't want to be given a job because I was a female, I wanted it because I was the most well-qualified person for the job. And making certain that companies are going to move forward in that vein, that is what women want.

I find that with some girls, the words 'work' and 'education' have gotten a bad rap.

The concern was that if a woman was doing gender equality, her chances of making it to tenure in the law school were diminished. It was considered frivolous.

If you were very bright and you became head of a department, as I did, of the psychology department, you were encouraged to go on to graduate work. But as a women you didn't even think about discrimination.

The hardest thing in my industry is longevity, getting your next job. It's hard to get the first job, but it's so much harder to get the sixth or seventh as a woman.

The only way the gender divide affected me was the social things the younger guy executives could do with their bosses. I don't know what went on in the clubs, because I didn't go. I made sure my work was stellar, and that compensated for whatever social time we weren't spending together.

When I taught, all my best students were women.

Sure enough, it wasn't long until I got a call, telling me I had a scholarship there. It was the only scholarship offer I had and, believe me, I jumped at it.

Mentorship has been an excuse not to promote women.

Academic success depends on research and publications.

What we need is to understand that women won't often apply for a job until they're almost 95% qualified. So they tick the box and say, 'If I can't do it all, I can't be qualified.' Men look at the same job, and as long as they get to about 60%, they'll apply.

Sponsorship involves putting your own political capital at risk, so they are going to help that person to succeed. Women get promoted; they don't get sponsored. Women know they are on their own if they get that promotion.

Women are simply not endowed with the same measure of single-minded ambition and the will to succeed.

[Concerning] the promotion of women. The system was designed by men and I am told constantly that "we have no women who are ready yet " for promotion. I can break that through perseverance—but it is an example of the system frustrating our purposes rather than serving them.

The savage and women are not what we call intellectual because they are not taught to know and manipulate the materials of knowledge.

I'm from a generation of women that shattered the glass ceiling. We didn't wait for doors to open. The lesson I learned is that you need to open some doors for yourself in pursuit of career advancement.

Often, people wonder if she can give the time required at work, given also her responsibilities at home. So a woman has to prove her worth over and over again each time she's given a new responsibility, especially when she is at junior to mid-level positions.

Women, whatever their profession, tend to have a harder time feeling ready for a job, even though in most cases they are more than prepared.

The kind of career that I want is not easy as a lady to manifest, because everyone wants a lady to be likable.

When we say there's a dearth of women directors, it's not that there's a lack of women who direct: it's a lack of opportunities and access for women to direct and be supported in that.

I'd never had a mentor in Hollywood. Men have always been in control of the business, and they usually mentor people who are like them - but two inches shorter.

Ultimately, mentorship plays such a big role in breaking directors that successful male directors tend to reach the helping hand to guys who remind them of themselves. We need more women directors so they can reach out to girls who remind them of themselves.

It will soon be 25 years from the date of publication of my first research work. That the scientific aspirations kindled by that early work did not suffer extinction has been due entirely to the opportunities provided for me by the great city of Calcutta.

For women, no matter what career, what path you choose, it's still an uphill battle to work your way up to these top leadership positions. And you're much more closely scrutinized for everything - for things that men are not.

Directing is a rarefied business. And you see very few women pass that Rubicon.