Friday, March 7, 2014

AASWomen for March 7, 2014

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of March 7, 2014
eds: Michele M. Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, Nick Murphy, & Nicolle Zellner

This week's issues:

1. Sometimes Being Good Isn’t Enough
2. Part II Nail Salons: Appropriate Astronomy Women’s Group Venue? Survey Results
3. The 2013 CSWA Demographics Survey: Portrait of a Generation of Women in Astronomy
4. Childcare Available at Boston AAS Meeting
5. Career Profile: Astronomer to Director for the Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics
6. L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Fellowships: UK and Ireland
7. How to Level the Playing Field for Women in Science
8. In Academia, Women Collaborate Less With Their Same-Sex Juniors
9. Sexism plagues major chemistry conference: Boycott emerges amid growing outrage
10. A Mighty Girl: Mighty Careers
11. Change sought in women's depiction in text books
12. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
13. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
14. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter


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1. Sometimes Being Good Isn’t Enough
From: Stephen Rinehart via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

This is for all the men out there.  Ok, for the women too.

Are you a good person?  In particular, are you a good person when it comes to supporting equitable treatment for everyone?  I like to believe that, at least since reaching adulthood, I’ve been a good person (at least in this context).  That’s not to say that I have been without fault, but I have certainly tried to be a good person.  Of course, the question is, “what does it mean to be a good person?”

To find out what it means to be a good person, please see


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2.  Part II Nail Salons: Appropriate Astronomy Women’s Group Venue? Survey Results
From: Stella Offner via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

On 11 Feb 2014, I wrote a post reflecting on whether nail salons are an appropriate venue for a women's astronomy group outing. This issue was contentious within our group and, apparently, also within the astronomy community. The post received over 1200 views, and 131 people completed the survey. In this post, I will share the very interesting poll responses. Thanks to everyone who weighed in!

To read about the results and takeaway points, please see


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3. The 2013 CSWA Demographics Survey: Portrait of a Generation of Women in Astronomy
From: Meredith Hughes via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

[ed.: Reproduced from the January 2014 Status: A report on Women in Astronomy, A. Meredith Hughes (Wesleyan University) presents results from the 2013 CSWA Demographics Survey.]

The current survey marks a decade since the last data collection effort and two decades since the initiation of the STScI demographics survey. With a rich, 20-year-long data set – and nearly 100% participation from the institutions surveyed – we are now able to provide an overview of how the representation of women in astronomy has evolved over the last generation.

To read about these results and to see how they compare to past surveys, please see


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4.  Childcare Available at Boston AAS Meeting
From: Kelly Clark [kelly.clark_at_aas.org]

The AAS Council is pleased to again offer childcare grants in the amount of $250.  The deadline to submit child care grant requests for the AAS Meeting in Boston is 1 May 2014.

To apply for a grant, please visit


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5. Career Profiles: Astronomer to Director for the Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics
From: Laura Trouille via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy and the AAS Employment Committee have compiled dozens of interviews highlighting the diversity of career trajectories available to astronomers. The interviews share advice and lessons learned from individuals on those paths.

Below is our interview with an astronomer turned Professor of Physics & Astronomy and Director for the Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics. If you have questions, suggestions, advice to share, etc. about this career path, please leave a comment below.

To read more, please see


For access to all our Career Profile Project interviews, please visit


We plan to post a new career profile to this blog every first and third Thursday of the month.

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6.  L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Fellowships: UK and Ireland
From:  Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

Applications for the 2014 L’Oréal-UNESCO UK & Ireland For Women in Science Fellowships are now being accepted and will close on Friday, March 14.

For more information about the fellowship and the application process, please see


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7. How to Level the Playing Field for Women in Science
From: Jessica Kirkpatrick [berkeleyjess_at_gmail.com]

Mary Ann Mason, a professor at UC-Berkeley, writes that, while more female students were taking more science classes at Berkeley, “very few of the faculty members were female.”  She attributes this to barriers faced by women as they travel the career path to full professor in academia.  Dr. Mason identifies four interventions that can help retain female science professors: better (and more) child-care options, effective dual-career policies, childbirth accommodations, and compliance with Title IX.

For details on how to level the playing field, please see


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8. In Academia, Women Collaborate Less With Their Same-Sex Juniors
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

Surveying psychologists’ research publications from 2008-2011, Joyce Benensen and Richard Wrangham reported that female full professors co-authored half as many papers with female junior faculty members in their departments than would be expected.  The study also found that female psychologists are more likely to collaborate with female peers and junior male colleagues, thus revealing “yet another barrier toward women advancing in academia.” Results from this study were reported this week in Current Biology.

To read a summary of the study, please see


To read the report, please see


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9.  Sexism Plagues Major Chemistry Conference: Boycott Emerges Amid Growing Outrage
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

The list of 24 speakers and chairs for the 2015 International Congress of Quantum Chemistry originally included no women, despite more than 300 female scientists being employed in appropriate positions in relevant fields. As a result, an on-line petition was started, asking people to boycott the conference and to “condemn gender-biased discriminatory practices”.

To learn more about the boycott and how conference organizers have been responding, please see


and

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/02/24/female-chemists-protest-all-male-conference-lineup
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10. A Mighty Girl: Mighty Careers

From:  Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

‘A Mighty Girl’ assembles “the world's largest collection of books, toys and movies for smart, confident, and courageous girls”. Its new blog series, ‘Mighty Careers!’, describes careers that young girls are likely to dream of pursuing. The first topic describes the career of an astronaut, includes a profile of Karen Nyberg, and recommends books about other female space travelers.

To see some recommendations for fictional books and biographies about female astronauts and space scientists, see


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11. Change sought in women's depiction in text books
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

The India Times reports that there is a concerted effort by the state education department to make changes in school textbooks to “remove images and mention of women in stereotypical gender roles that make them appear stuck in a time warp - sweeping, serving food to boys, fetching water and washing dishes or clothes.”

To read more, please see


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12. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter

To submit an item to the AASWOMEN newsletter, including replies to topics, send email to aaswomen_at_aas.org

All material will be posted unless you tell us otherwise, including your email address.

When submitting a job posting for inclusion in the newsletter, please include a one-line description and a link to the full job posting.

Please remember to replace "_at_" in the e-mail address above.

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13. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter

Join AAS Women List by email:

Send email to aaswlist+subscribe_at_aas.org from the address you want to have subscribed. You can leave the subject and message blank if you like.

Be sure to follow the instructions in the confirmation email. (Just reply back to the email list)

To unsubscribe by email:

Send email to aawlist+unsubscribe_at_aas.org from the address you want to have UNsubscribed. You can leave the subject and message blank if you like.

To join or leave AASWomen via web, or change your membership settings:


You will have to create a Google Account if you do not already have one, using https://accounts.google.com/newaccount?hl=en  

Google Groups Subscribe Help:


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14. Access to Past Issues



Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

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