AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of March 19, 2010
eds. Joan Schmelz, Caroline Simpson & Michele Montgomery
This week's issues:
1. Anti-Harassment Policy and Procedures for AAS Meetings
2. What to Do When YOU Are the Chair
3. Neither Men Nor Mice
4. WISE WOMEN: Girls Learn the Value of Science, Math in Novel Program
5. Teacher Aims to Get More Girls Involved in Science
6. Summit on Gender and the Postdoctorate
7. How to Submit, Subscribe, or Unsubscribe to AASWOMEN
8. Access to Past Issues of AASWOMEN
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1. Anti-Harassment Policy and Procedures for AAS Meetings
From: Debra Elmegreen [elmegreen
vassar.edu]
[Do you know an astronomer who seems to take pleasure in humiliating young
scientists when they're presenting a poster or answering questions after a
talk? CSWA asked the AAS to look into this issue. Here is the reply from the
AAS president elect -- Eds.]
We are all familiar with overly aggressive people, who can make us
uncomfortable through their words or actions. But that aggression can cross
the line into harassment, and the AAS has taken steps to alleviate such
problems. It is worth reiterating that we have an AAS Ethics Statement,
adopted by Council in Jan. 2010, and an Anti-Harassment Policy for AAS
Meetings, proposed in 2008. These are now available through a direct link on
the AAS homepage (‘Legal and Policy Information’ at the bottom of the
sidebar). In particular, the latter policy states in part that ‘all
participants in Society activities will enjoy an environment free from all
forms of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.’ There is a mechanism
in place in that policy for complaints to be reported to any of the AAS
Officers, including the Executive Officer, who will then take appropriate
actions.
Kevin Marvel and the AAS Staff have also amended the Session Chairs
instructions to include explicit mention of the responsibility of chairs to
thwart harassment; see
http://aas.org/meetings/session_chair
[which states in part that] session chairs are responsible for ensuring a
professional atmosphere in each session, consistent with the AAS
professional ethics guidelines and anti-harassment policies. Session chairs
should especially be wary of harassment of early-career speakers in the form
of overly challenging or humiliating questioning by session attendees. If a
question is inappropriate or unprofessional, it is appropriate for the
session chair to intervene or take another question.
In addition, we can all make efforts to be aware of and help prevent such
transgressions at AAS meetings (in addition to our home institutions).
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2. What to Do When YOU Are the Chair
From: Caty Pilachowski [catypastro.indiana.edu]
The AAS policy goes a long way toward addressing the problem of harassment
at meetings, but what do you do if you are the session chair? Sometimes
comments and questions from the audience are so shocking and inappropriate
that we can be stunned, leaving the speaker to fend for her/himself.
Remember that others in the audience are shocked as well, and look to you to
intervene on behalf of the speaker -- so you need to be prepared.
Depending on the incident, chairs could respond in a variety of ways.
Perhaps the mildest might be, "That question is inappropriate in this
session. I suggest that you discuss the point privately with the speaker at
another time." A stronger statement might be, "That comment is out of
order," or even "It is our responsibility as members to adhere to the
Society's anti-harassment policy. That comment/question is out of order." In
the most egregious cases, a chair might even say, "I apologize on behalf of
the Society for that inappropriate comment." Then, if you can, ask a
question of your own to help the speaker regain equilibrium, and encourage
another question from the audience, particularly from someone you think
would be sympathetic.
[If you have any other suggestions or advice on this topic, please send them
to us at aaswomenaas.org -- Eds.]
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3. Neither Men Nor Mice
From: John Leibacher [leibnoao.edu]
Here is a NY Times article by Peggy Klaus entitled, “Neither Men Nor Mice.”
Last fall, while working with corporate women across various industries, job
levels and generations, an age-old issue re-emerged at a near-fever pitch.
Women were obsessed about being labeled a “bitch,” and to a degree I hadn’t
seen since the 1990s.
The reason for their nervousness? Sure, they saw obnoxious women on reality
TV shows. And they endured all the talk-show lampooning of Sarah Palin and
Hillary Rodham Clinton during the 2008 presidential campaign. Yet one issue
was even more personal: A recession was in full swing, and jobs were on the
line.
The remainder of the article can be found here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/jobs/07preoccupations.html?ex=1283922000&en=6cf272020e6b0637&ei=5087WT.mc_id=JO-D-I-NYT-MOD-MOD-M140-ROS-0310-HDR&WT.mc_ev=click
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4. WISE WOMEN: Girls Learn the Value of Science, Math in Novel Program
From: Joan Schmelz [jschmelzmemphis.edu]
An article by Grant Welker appeared recently in the Herald News on Wise
Women:
New Bedford — When competition is global for science and engineering jobs,
the United States cannot afford to have half its brainpower — women — not
working in those fields, Jean MacCormack told teachers and scientists at the
Ocean Explorium Thursday.
MacCormack, the chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, was
the keynote speaker at the kickoff of the second year of a series called
Women in Science and Engineering — or Wise — which encourages girls to
consider jobs in those professions. “Women in science isn’t as common as
you’d think in this day and age,” MacCormack said.
For the remainder of the article, please see:
http://www.heraldnews.com/news/x593980287/WISE-WOMEN-Girls-learn-the-value-of-science-math-in-novel-program
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5. Teacher Aims to Get More Girls Involved in Science
From: Joan Schmelz [jschmelzmemphis.edu]
An article by Amanda Memrick appeared recently in Gaston Gazette on getting
girls involved in science.
Judith McDonald was the only girl in her high school physics class. She
continued to see fewer women in fields like science and math in college when
she majored in engineering. “I said, ‘We’ve got to change this,’” said
McDonald, who teaches science education at Belmont Abbey College. McDonald
is trying to make a change by starting early.
Girls at North Belmont Elementary are honing their math and science skills
through the Girls Leading Girls program that matches Belmont Abbey College
women majoring in science, technology, engineering and mathematics with
fifth grade girls.
For the remainder of the article, please see:
http://www.gastongazette.com/news/science-44133-involved-fewer.html
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6. Summit on Gender and the Postdoctorate
From: HannahWomen in Astronomy Blog
Last week, I attended the National Postdoctoral Association's Summit on
Gender and the Postdoctorate, which was held in Philadelphia last week, on
March 11-12. I started writing up my thoughts about the meeting, and it
started to get really long, so I've decided to break it up into a series of
posts. The presentations will all be made available on the web eventually,
but I'll present some highlights (and my own personal take on things) here.
Since my last post on employment sparked a bunch of discussion, I thought I
would start by discussing the postdoc in terms of career trajectories. The
upshot of the comments on my previous post is that there are plenty of valid
career options for PhDs in astronomy, and that both early career astronomers
(i.e. grad students and postdocs) and those training them need to be aware
of the options, and to not view a research faculty positions as the be-all
and end-all of a successful career.
To read more, go here:
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2010/03/summit-on-gender-and-postdoctorate-vol.html#more
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7. How to Submit, Subscribe, or Unsubscribe to AASWOMEN
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8. Access to Past Issues of AASWOMEN
Past issues of AASWOMEN are available at
http://www.aas.org/cswa/AASWOMEN.html
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.