Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 14:38:00 -0500 (EST)
Subject: CSWA Newsletter of 7/12/2000
To: AASMAIL: ;
AAS Committee on the Status of Women
weekly issues of 7/12/2000, ed. by Priscilla Benson
*** send email and addresses to aaswomen
wellesley.edu ***
This week's issues:
1. URL for Thaller article
2. NSF funding for women
3. Jobs for Women
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1. URL for Thaller article
From: cmustsci.edu
Sorry, it's hard to transmit this URL without error because
it is too long! In last week's AASWOMEN, I recommended an
article by Michelle Thaller in the Christian Science
Monitor. The listed url was actually correct but was broken
into two lines, and the hyphen was part of the address.
Let's try again (should all be on one line, but broken here
for clarity):
www.csmonitor.com/atcsmonitor/cybercoverage/
thaller/p-062000thallerwomen.html
Meg Urry
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2. NSF Funding for Women
From: Marvelaas.org
I just wanted to set the record straight on the NSF funding
mentioned in last week's CSWA newsletter.
The President requested an increase of $8 million dollars
over FY2000 levels for the ADVANCE program, which increases
the participation and advancement of women in all fields of
science and engineering. The total requested amount for
FY2001 is $20.2 million.
Note that this is only the requested funding level.
Although the House of Representatives has passed the VA-HUD-
IA appropraitions bill, the funding breakout for the NSF is
not currently available with enough detail to determine if
the ADVANCE program will receive its full requested amount
for FY 2001. Congress has not yet "funded" efforts for FY
2001 to improve participation in science and engineering by
women.
It is up to supporters of the program to contact their
senators and Representatives to point out the benefits of
this program and request full funding at the President's
requested level. The Senate should begin discussion of the
VA-HUD-IA bill either in late July or early September. Once
the Senate has passed their version of the bill, it will be
conferenced with the House version and differences
reconciled. Contact with Congress is still important at
this late date.
Remember, however, that regular contact with your own
Representative WHEN NOTHING CRITICAL IS GOING ON is the best
way to voice your concerns on broader issues, such as
increasing the participation of women in science and
engineering. It is our civic responsibility to regularly
communicate our concerns, values and needs to members of
Congress. Without this input, they don't know there are any
problems out there. Do not forget this simple fact.
If you need help or advice on contacting Congress, check out
the AAS public policy web pages or contact me directly.
Kevin Marvel
marvelaas.org
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3. Jobs for Women
From: kmeadearthlink.net
Dear Editor,
Thank you to Alycia Weinberger for her contribution
in the 5 June AASWomen.
I was wondering, how many of the offers to women for various
jobs were made to the same woman?
My impression is that in any given search, there are one or
two women that everyone wants and these women get many
offers. Thus, many offers to women are declined. The next
offer is usually made to a man. This alone could skew the
job offers number to seem like a higher number of women
than actually do, have opportunities.
Unfortunately, a lot of departments who have hired a woman
in a particular search, won't offer the next job to a woman
because they figure they've done their "duty" to to hire a
woman. They will often include one or more women on their
"short lists" as tokens. This is an easy thing for them
to do and helps keep them in compliance with the law. (Note
that it is possible for a department to never actually hire
a woman and still win a discrimination lawsuit.) Departments
will say they want to hire a woman, but mean it only if
she's a superstar woman. Their standards for men are lower.
I can't say much for the reliability of the rumor mill page.
I am confident of my impressions though, as they are formed
by years of conversations with department chairs,
observatory directors, other search committee members and
job candidates. I have personally witnessed sexual
harassment, flagrantly sexist job searches, as well as
retaliation against those who have challenged these
procedures. Most in the astronomical world are sophisticated
enough to hide the attitudes that I have seen overtly
expressed. That behavior is on the tail of the bell curve.
Under the peak are similar attitudes expressed subtly.
To be sure, opportunities for women are improving. But,
while the numbers on the Rumor Mill page may look
encouraging, pervasive bias does not dissipate in only a few
years. Please, let's not become complacent because we see
women getting jobs (or because we are so busy in our own
job.) Sexism is still a drag on all our careers, whether
or not it is visible to each individual.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kathy Mead
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End of CSWA Newsletter of 7/12/2000