“Biology can be said to define possibilities but not determine them; it is never irrelevant, but it is also not determinant.” – Cordelia Fine
Looking back at 130 years of history is important for the school and its community. It helps us to see and celebrate what has gone on in the past and what we can take forward and evolve in the future. It highlights to us the power of opportunity, history, conviction and ambition that has helped to drive the school and its staff and pupils forward over those years.
It seemed, therefore, very appropriate for our inaugural edition to invite one of our most highly-regarded alumnae – Professor Cordelia Fine - to share her thoughts and experiences, both from school and as she has progressed in life and her career. As a philosopher, psychologist and writer, history and evolution are at the heart of her work, particularly that of gender stereotyping.
In 2017, her latest book Testosterone Rex won the Royal Society Book Prize, and she has authored several other academic books and publications. She also won the prestigious Edinburgh Award earlier this year.
Cordelia attended St George’s from 1985 – 1990, followed by Edinburgh Academy. She studied at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and University College London. She now lives in Melbourne, Australia with her children and partner.
We are very honoured that Cordelia accepted our invitation to be interviewed and to share her knowledge, experiences and memories with our readers.
Q) What subjects did you study at school?
For GCSEs, in addition to the mandatory subjects, I took the three sciences and music. For A-levels, I studied Maths, Biology and Music (at the Edinburgh Academy).
Q) What were your strongest memories from school?
There are so many! I’ll share just one that perhaps reflects a fledgling interest in the performance of persuasion. I was trying to win some kind of class election and, for reasons that now elude me, part of my campaign strategy involved standing on a desk wearing a pair of boxer shorts that said: ‘Vote for me’.
Q) Was there anyone within the school who particularly helped or inspired you and set you on your current career path?
While I was at St George's, I didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted to do, but I was fiercely competitive with one of the other pupils, which probably helped me to get better marks than I might have otherwise. (I actually wrote about this, decades later, for the British Psychological Society as part of their ‘Sin Week’.)
Q) What sort of influence did St George’s have on you as you look back now?
My children are teenagers now, and the experience of being a parent has given me renewed appreciation of the importance of a school for a child’s developing sense of self, and the incredible commitment that teachers in a good school have to their students and the school community. As for myself, setting aside the obvious influence of the blessing of excellent teaching and high expectations in a supportive environment, I’m also struck, thinking back, by all the extra-curricular activities I did. Music groups of all sizes, musicals, debating, writing for the school magazine, and so on. It’s not hard to imagine that that early practice and confidence building in performance and communication has stood me in good stead for my career.
Q) You have lived in Melbourne, Australia for sixteen years. What is it about the city that attracts you most?
Apparently, Melbourne is ranked as the world’s most liveable city, and while it’s good to have a strong scepticism about rankings when you work in education, it’s certainly a fantastic city to live in.
Q) Was your path into academic psychology a relatively clear one for you? Or did you consider other avenues?
I never really seriously considered other avenues. I did take a Masters in Criminology after my degree in Experimental Psychology, but then went back to Psychology straight after for my PhD. I never considered Clinical Psychology either.
Q) You studied at Oxford, Cambridge and UCL. Was there a period during these studies that you would highlight as especially enjoyable or affirmative?
I still have quite a vivid memory of the tutorial for which I’d written my first better-than-ok essay. The positive feedback was quite electrifying. I also remember, in my final year, looking back on some of my first year essays. They were indescribably awful, which made me realise how much I’d developed over the course of my degree. I still hold onto the recognition of that moment and feel excited about how much it’s possible to learn and develop in just a few years.
Q) You are an academic and a writer. Do you consider both to be inextricably part of who you are, or do you feel more drawn towards one area?
I don’t think either takes precedence, and fortunately I think the practices of both enhance each other.
Q) If you could pick another writer that you particularly admire, of any genre or period, who would it be?
I have to admit that my favourite genre is fiction rather than science writing. There are so many who have given me so much pleasure over the years, it’s hard to single out one. I did absolutely love PG Wodehouse, though, in my teenage years and twenties.
Q) Congratulations on receiving the Edinburgh Award in April 2018 for your work on challenging gender perceptions in science and your contributions to society’s understanding of gender stereotypes. How important is this prestigious award in furthering our wider understanding of humanity and the people who are driving this agenda forward?
I was, of course, thrilled and honoured to receive the Edinburgh Award. And I also see it as a wonderful recognition of the importance of the work of scientists – often women – that I write about in my books and draw on in my academic research, who have progressed science by challenging long-held assumptions about the sexes and asking different research questions.
Q) We live in an era where technology and communications increase the opportunities for discussion, awareness raising and information sharing amongst a much wider population. Do you believe that this can deliver more positive outcomes or potentially deepen stereotypes?
I think this is one of those questions where the answer is: yes to both alternatives. Despite the potential, technologies aren’t necessarily as ‘disruptive’ of the status quo as we might like to think and can instead just entrench it in even more effective and powerful ways.
Q) You have lived and worked across three different continents. Have you experienced clear cultural and social differences that impact the way gender is perceived and stereotypes exist across these different geographies?
I have only worked in the UK and Australia and was quite young when we left the US, though my mother claims that sexism in early education was already being tackled there, and I was outraged at some of the gendered assumptions on my return to a British school. I haven’t come across stark differences, although I sometimes get the impression that the UK is ahead of Australia with regard to trying to deal with sexism and discrimination.
Q) Globally there is a greater emphasis on improving the numbers of those studying and working in STEM subjects. In your opinion what more needs to be done to generate greater interest in these subjects, particularly with female students and potential employees?
This is not really an area of expertise for me. But I certainly do think it’s important that women are represented in leading and shaping the technologies that increasingly affect every aspect of our lives.
Q) If you were to offer advice to a 14-year-old girl starting to think about their future in work and the wider world, what would you say?
Find time, somewhere along the way, to reflect about your purpose. By this, I mean things like, what would you like to achieve, and learn? What contributions would you like to make to a profession, industry or society? There are no right answers to these questions, but developing a sense of purpose will give you courage, passion, persistence and resilience in whatever path you take.
I’d also say, if you’re worrying about making the ‘wrong’ decision, watch philosopher Ruth Chang’s TED talk on ‘Hard Choices’. To quote her: “hard choices are precious opportunities for us to celebrate what is special about the human condition, that the reasons that govern our choices as correct or incorrect sometimes run out, and it is here, in the space of hard choices, that we have the power to create reasons for ourselves to become the distinctive people that we are.”
