AAS Committee on the Status of Women
February 1, 2019
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, and JoEllen McBride
This week's issues:
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| Image Credit: Shayanne Gal/Business Insider (August 2018) |
1. From young to youthful - the challenges of mid-career
2. Interviews with Scientist on “Person Place Thing”
3. Q&A: Pulsar pioneer Jocelyn Bell Burnell
4. Scientists’ salary data highlight US$18,000 gender pay gap
5. How gender disparities in salary add up over a lifetime
6. To learn inclusion skills, make it personal
7. To Groom Better Scientists, Harness the Power of Narrative
8. It’s Time to Rethink Who’s Best Suited for Space Travel
9. Celebrate the women behind the periodic table
10. Job Opportunities
11. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
12. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
13. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter
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1. From young to youthful - the challenges of mid-career
From: Orsola De Marco via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com
In one’s mid-career, having achieved some measure of success (a job, even professor title) things are by no means slowing down or getting easier. There are still very large and growing expectations of maintaining a certain level of research, teaching and administration. And while these expectations grow, the kids, who for a few years have been easier, older, more independent, turn into teens, with teen problems. And the ageing parents who were helpful, turn into … kids. And suddenly life and work become a new match of some well-known game where the rules have been altered…
Read more at
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2. Interviews with Scientist on “Person Place Thing”
From: Pat Knezek [pknezek_at_gmail.com]
The public radio program “Person Place Thing” in conjunction with the advocacy organization 500 Women Scientists is launching a series of interview shows with - well yes - women scientists, live on stage, with live music, at KGB Bar in New York City. Danish astrophysicist Sarah Pearson will be the guest on February 6.
Learn more at
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3. Q&A: Pulsar pioneer Jocelyn Bell Burnell
From: Heather Flewelling [flewelling.heather_at_gmail.com]
By Toni Feder
“Years after being overlooked for the most coveted prize in physics, she was recently awarded the one with the biggest purse—and she donated it to help underrepresented graduate students.”
Read more at
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4.Scientists’ salary data highlight US$18,000 gender pay gap
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]
In a study by the National Science Foundation that recorded self-reported answers from 50,000 research-related PhDs from 428 institutions, "[m]ale researchers who gained PhDs in 2017, with jobs lined up, expect to earn median annual salaries of US$88,000, compared with $70,000 for women..."
Read more at
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5. How gender disparities in salary add up over a lifetime
From: Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]
“Around the country, women physician researchers make 7 to 8 percent less per year than men. At the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, efforts to eliminate such a gender disparity have cut the difference in salaries from 2.6 percent in 2005 to a statistically insignificant 1.9 percent in 2016. But even with that improvement and seemingly small pay gap, women faculty are likely to accumulate much less wealth over their lifetimes, Johns Hopkins researchers found.”
Read more at
Read the original study at
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6. To learn inclusion skills, make it personal
From: Heather Flewelling [Flewelling.heather_at_gmail.com>
“Diversity without inclusion is an empty gesture. Inclusion is a feeling of belonging, and so creating an empowering, embracing, egalitarian environment starts with the heart.”
Read more at
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7. To Groom Better Scientists, Harness the Power of Narrative
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]
“Teaching science through narrative underscores the fact that knowledge is not fixed, but rather always emerging through active questioning of the unknown.”
Read more at
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8. It’s Time to Rethink Who’s Best Suited for Space Travel
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]
In 1961, 11 deaf men were recruited by Dr. Ashton Graybiel (US Naval School of Aviation Medicine in Florida) to “help test the feasibility of human spaceflight, at a time when nobody knew whether the human body could withstand a trip beyond our atmosphere. … They were recruited for these tests for the exact reason they would never pass the NASA astronaut qualification exams: All 11 men were deaf.”
Read more at
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9. Celebrate the women behind the periodic table
From: Jessica Mink [jmink_at_cfa.harvard.edu]
This article was really enlightening, going beyond Marie Curie to many other women who discovered elements or contributed important knowledge about them. Their stories provide examples of all of the ways in which women can lose credit for their discoveries as well as what it took for them to be recognized. Support from male superiors could (and unhappily, still can) make the difference between getting credit and not…
Read more and find a list of references at
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10. Job Opportunities
- Professor and Head of Department of Physics, University of Bath
- Education and Public Outreach Coordinator, Rice University
For those interested in increasing excellence and diversity in their organizations, a list of resources and advice is here: https://cswa.aas.org/#howtoincrease
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11. 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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12. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
Join AAS Women List by email:
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13. Access to Past Issues
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.