AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of May 11, 2018
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Cristina Thomas, and Maria Patterson
This week's issues:
1. The Awakening
2. The #MeToo campaign is gaining ground in China
3. Former NASA Chief Scientist Heads National Air and Space Museum
4. Harassment should count as scientific misconduct
5. The first person on Mars 'should be a woman'
6. Men Get Credit for Voicing Ideas, but Not Problems. Women Don’t Get Credit for Either
7. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
8. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
9. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter
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1. The Awakening
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]
“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
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2. The #MeToo campaign is gaining ground in China
From: Heather Flewelling [flewelling.heather_at_gmail.com]
“Some 20 years ago, a student at Peking University in Beijing took her own life after making allegations that she had been sexually harassed and raped by a professor. Her case made little impact at the time, but it is doing so now. The issues it raises highlight two points about how the #MeToo movement is now playing out on the campuses of Chinese universities. It shows the extent to which things have changed, and underlines ways in which these changes do not yet go far enough.”
Read more at
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3. Former NASA Chief Scientist Heads National Air and Space Museum
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]
“Ellen Stofan, who became the new director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum last week, wants museum visitors to feel the same thrill that she does about space, exploration, aviation, and other science topics… [She] also is keenly aware of being a role model. ‘I’ve spent most of my career being one of the few, if not often the only woman in the room. I have never liked that because it always has made me think, well if there are no other women here, do I really belong here?’ she said.”
Read more at
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4. Harassment should count as scientific misconduct
From: Heather Flewelling [flewelling.heather_at_gmail.com]
“… many [senior scientists] view harassment as an injustice that happens somewhere else, not in their field or at their institution. But data suggest that the problem is ubiquitous. In separate surveys of tens of thousands of university students across Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, upwards of 40% of respondents say that they have experienced sexual harassment. … Research culture and policies are quick to denounce plagiarism, data fabrication and mismanagement of funds, yet we have too long ignored the mistreatment of people. … Last September, the American Geophysical Union (AGU) defined harassment, bullying and discrimination as scientific misconduct, and outlined consequences. The greater scientific community should do the same.”
Read more at
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5. The first person on Mars 'should be a woman'
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]
Senior Nasa engineer Allison McIntyre has been with Nasa for almost 30 years “and has seen huge changes in that time: ‘My centre director is a woman, my former division chief is a woman, we have female astronauts, but we haven't put a woman on the Moon yet, and I think the first person on Mars should be a woman.’”
Read more at
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6. Men Get Credit for Voicing Ideas, but Not Problems. Women Don’t Get Credit for Either
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]
Research studies have proposed that “people who speak the most in groups tend to emerge as leaders”. In a study of group dynamics, Sean Martin (Boston College) and collaborators found that “the gender of the person speaking up was an important consideration: The status bump and leader emergence that resulted from speaking up with ideas only happened for men, not for women.”
Read more at
Read the journal article at
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7. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
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9. Access to Past Issues
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.
