Issue of April 06, 2018
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Cristina Thomas, and Maria Patterson
This week's issues:
1. Where Are We on Harassment?
2. The Woman Who Knows Everything About the Universe
3. What It’s Like to Be a Woman in the Academy
4. Elsevier reports 40% gender pay gap
5. Why Aren't There More Women Leaders in Science?
6. The Special Challenges of Being Both a Scientist and a Mom
7. Evidence for a mental health crisis in graduate education
8. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
9. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
10. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter
1. Where Are We on Harassment?
From: Cristina Thomas via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
By Aparna Venkatesan
The year 2015 was a watershed moment for mainstream awareness of harassment in astronomy and physics, with individual cases involving decades-long harassment and long-term fallout for junior astronomers making national news. This was a galvanizing call to action for those working in astronomy and astrophysics, ahead of the recent #MeToo and other powerful movements. 2015 was also the year when the first Inclusive Astronomy meeting was held at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, resulting in concrete recommendations endorsed by the AAS Council for creating an inclusive workplace and professional community
Link for the Nashville Recommendations for Inclusive Astronomy at AAS Groups wiki: https://tiki.aas.org/tiki-index.php?page=Inclusive_Astronomy_The_Nashville_Recommendations
Read more at
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2018/04/where-are-we-on-harassment.html
Back to top.2. The Woman Who Knows Everything About the Universe
From: John Mather [johncm12_at_gmail.com] and Michael Rupen [Michael.Rupen_at_nrc-cnrc.gc.ca]
"In 1965, physicist Richard Feynman was busy. He was busy winning the Nobel Prize, and he was busy learning to draw. One day during that productive time in his life, he saw astrophysics student Virginia Trimble striding across Caltech's campus and thought, 'There's a good model.'"
Read more at
https://www.wired.com/story/the-woman-who-knows-everything-about-the-universe
Back to top.3. What It’s Like to Be a Woman in the Academy
From: Heather Flewelling [flewelling.heather_at_gmail.com]
"'When it comes to silencing women,' writes Mary Beard, 'Western culture has had thousands of years of practice.' Academe is no exception. A recent conference at Stanford University featured 30 speakers — all of them men, all of them white. The incident sparked ridicule and outrage, as well as a sense that higher education is facing a reckoning. Over the past few months, amid mounting revelations of sexual harassment, The Chronicle Review asked presidents and adjuncts, scientists and humanists, senior scholars and junior professors to take on the theme of women and power in academe. Here are their responses."
Read more at
https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/the-awakening
Back to top.4. Elsevier reports 40% gender pay gap
From: Angela Speck [speckan_at_missouri.edu]
"Elsevier has reported a median pay gap of 40.4%, more than twice the UK average of 18.4% and the highest yet reported by a publisher. The company’s mean pay gap stands at 29.1%, also well over the UK average of 17.4%."
Read more at
https://www.thebookseller.com/news/elsevier-reports-40-gender-pay-gap-759606
Back to top.5. Why Aren't There More Women Leaders in Science?
From: Maria Patterson [mtpatter_at_uw.edu]
"In the 1980s when I was a medical resident at the University of Chicago, I was among the largest class of females the program ever had. My female peers and I faced many challenges, including overcrowded on-call rooms. They simple weren’t ready yet. But, we were."
Read more at
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/why-arent-there-more-women-leaders-in-science
Back to top.6. The Special Challenges of Being Both a Scientist and a Mom
From: Maria Patterson [mtpatter_at_uw.edu]
"Biology tasks women as the creators and guardians of life in its early and most vulnerable stages. Pregnancy, giving birth, healing from it physically and emotionally, breast-feeding, parent–child bonding, child care and everything that accompanies them are a normal part of life, much of it necessary for our existence as a species. And yet this is not all that defines us. Unfortunately, depending on the society one lives in, having a baby can serve as an impediment to other life pursuits."
Read more at
Back to top.7. Evidence for a mental health crisis in graduate education
From: Cristina Thomas [cristina.thomas_at_nau.edu]
"With mental illness a growing concern within graduate education, data from a new survey should prompt both academia and policy makers to consider intervention strategies."
Read more [paywall restricted access - Ed. note] at
https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.4089
Back to top.8. 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.
Back to top.9. 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 aaswlist+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:
https://groups.google.com/a/aas.org/group/aaswlist
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:
http://support.google.com/groups/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=46606
Back to top.10. Access to Past Issues
https://cswa.aas.org/AASWOMEN.html
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.
Back to top.