Women In Astronomy: AASWomen Newsletter For February 21, 2020

AAS Committee on the Status of Women AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of February 21, 2020
eds: JoEllen McBride, Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, and Alessandra Aloisi

This week's issues:

From item 10: An undated photograph of Elizabeth Williams.

1. Cross-Post: It is Award Nomination Season! And it needs you to succeed
From: Katie Ekert via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

By Kelsi Singer

Hello all! I was inspired by these articles that Nicolle Zellner shared on the AASWomen newsletter, about a team of people who made it their mission to help promote equal representation in AGU award nominations.

2. Stop making graduate students pay up front for conferences
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]

Graduate students usually have to pay for conference fees, housing, and travel up front, incurring debt. This article suggests things departments can do to ease the financial burden on their students.

3. STEM's Ongoing Sex-Difference Debate
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]

This article goes into more detail about the rebuttal to the 2018 paper claiming that women in countries with more gender equity were less likely to pursue STEM degrees.

4. 'Anonymous Is A Woman' Explores Gender Inequality Thousands Of Years In The Making
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]

An interview with Dr. Nina Ansary about her new book which profiles 50 female innovators from 2300 BCE to today.

5. Scholars Debate Causes of Women’s Underrepresentation in STEM
Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]

By Amy Schleunes

"Acontroversial study published in Psychological Science in 2018 claimed that a “gender-equality paradox” exists in countries that have greater overall gender equality but an underrepresentation of girls and women in STEM fields. This week, Psychological Sciences published two commentaries—one from the authors and one from outside researchers—that have intensified the debate over the role of sex differences and social conditioning in educational and career choices."

6. Gender inequalities in science: Evidence and ideas from bibliometrics
Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]

By Zeynep Anli and Lidia Carballo-Costa

"Leiden University hosted the Gender Inequalities in Science workshop in October 2019 - organized by CWTS and Elsevier’s International Center for the Study of Research - where researchers from around the world discussed the gender gap in science and possible ways to counter this problem."

7. Harvard researchers debunk study claiming women are underrepresented in STEM by choice
Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]

By Andrea Park

"A 2018 study describing a "gender equality paradox," by which nations with greater gender equity had fewer women earning degrees in science, tech, engineering and math, is the subject of a recent correction and series of blog posts invalidating the research, BuzzFeed News reports.

The correction was published in December 2019 in Psychological Science, the journal in which the original study was published. It corrects several "oversights," including ambiguity in how the numbers of women in STEM fields were calculated and misrepresented data and descriptions in charts and graphs."

8. Working In Science Was A Brutal Education. That’s Why I Left.
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]

As someone who also left science, this piece resonated with me. I think it is a good reminder to reflect on how we speak to those who left their fields. If I had a dime for every time someone said 'if you had tried harder you could have made it,' I'd have a few dollars.

9. Racial Microaggressions In Science
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]

This is another good reminder to be conscious of the ways we speak to people.

10. Meet the unknown female mathematician whose calculations helped discover Pluto
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]

Apparently Lowell Observatory had its own computers back in the day. Elizabeth Williams was one of them and her calculations are what led Clyde Tombaugh to discover Pluto.

11. Nathalie Cabrol at the UN
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

"Nathalie Cabrol, Director of the Carl Sagan Center for Research at the SETI Institute, spoke at the United Nations in New York last week as part of the 5th International Day of Women and Girls in Science Assembly. Her remarks were part of a high-level panel on Digital Economy and Society: STI for Sustainable Development (STI stands for science, technology, innovation).

In her speech, Nathalie recognized the challenges many women face in their pursuit of a career in science. Some of these challenges include delaying or forgoing parenthood, harassment, and cultural and societal biases. Nathalie emphasized the importance of equity in terms of access to education and career opportunities, as well as pay and recognition for talent and work."

Read more and listen to Dr. Cabrol's speech at

https://www.seti.org/nathalie-cabrol-un

12. Gender Inequality in Science Careers and Publishing
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]

By Colleen Flaherty

"A new study on gender differences in science, technology, engineering and math publishing says that men and women publish at a comparable annual rate and make similar impacts during their active careers. But publishing career lengths and “dropout rates” -- how many women leave the field, relative to men -- explain much of the documented gender gap in productivity and impact."

	Katie Eckert
	Regina Jorgenson
	JoEllen McBride
	Christina Richey
	Joan Schmelz

Women In Astronomy

Friday, February 21, 2020

AASWomen Newsletter For February 21, 2020

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