Women in Chromatography: Being the Only Woman in the Room

“Belonging doesn't happen automatically; it's created by culture of the team, often through very small conversations.”

— Kinjal Bhatt, Senior Scientist, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine

“You have to do a little line where someone else can just walk through.”

— Ina Varfaj, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Perugia

Both panelists have experienced being one of very few women in a room, a role, or a project, and both said what stayed with them afterward wasn't the number itself, but how the environment made them feel. Kinjal Bhatt describes the difference between rooms where people were genuinely interested in what everyone brought to the table, and rooms where she felt she had to establish her credibility before being fully accepted into the conversation. Belonging, she says, doesn't happen automatically; it is built by a team's culture, often through small, ordinary conversations that signal whether a person is being heard, respected, and included. Those moments may seem minor in isolation, but together they shape whether someone feels able to ask questions, offer ideas, challenge assumptions, and contribute fully. When people feel they belong, Bhatt says, their energy goes into the work itself rather than into wondering whether they should be in the room at all. That understanding now shapes how she tries to make others feel welcome from the start, especially early-career scientists who may still be finding their confidence. Ina Varfaj has spent the past couple of years as the only woman in her laboratory group and describes it candidly as a mix of pride and pressure: pride in having earned her place, and pressure from knowing that visibility can carry extra weight. Being first, or being the only one, can feel empowering, but it can also make every action feel more representative than individual. For Varfaj, the point is not simply to occupy that space, but to make it easier for others to enter it. She describes her goal as clearing a path so the next woman who comes through has a line to follow, rather than having to create it alone.

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