Why We Leave

Reaching to the stars
by Ares Nguyen via flickr

The charge of the Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy is to recommend to the AAS Board of Trustees practical measures that the AAS can take to improve the status of women in astronomy and encourage their entry into this field. We define women to include people who identify as female, including trans women, genderqueer women, and non-binary people who are significantly female-identified. As an organization, the AAS supports and promotes increased participation of historically underrepresented groups in astronomy.

The CSWA has existed for almost 42 years. In that time we have seen a growth in women in the field (although the number of men has also increased alongside this). The linked AIP report found that there was no significant attrition of women between career stages in astronomy. However, attrition does occur for people of all identities, especially those who are underrepresented. We all know someone who left the field at some point.

AASWomen Newsletter for February 1, 2019

AAS Committee on the Status of Women

February 1, 2019

eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, and JoEllen McBride

This week's issues: 

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

Ladybucks

If you're looking for talking points to confront our country's neanderthal stance towards equal pay for equal work, check out John Oliver's diatribe on Last Week Tonight. Zing zing. My favorite bit comes at 2min10sec into the clip... can't wait to use that one.

AASWomen February 7, 2014

AAS Committee on the Status of Women

Issue of February 7, 2014

eds: Michele M. Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, Nick Murphy, & Nicolle Zellner

This week's issues:

1. Changing the Debate aboutWomen in STEM: Celebrating our Equal Abilities!

2. Why So Few? Stereotype Threat

3. The AstroBetter Parental LeaveWiki

4. Call for US DelegateApplications for the 5th International Conference on Women in Physics

5. Bibliometrics: Global genderdisparities in science

6. No,Women Don’t Make Less Money Than Men

7. National Symposium for the Advancement of Women in STEM (NSAWS)

8. Job Opportunities

9. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter

10. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomenNewsletter

11. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter

Mind the Gender Gap

A recent Nature article discusses problems with the hiring and retention of women in science and engineering.

The National Science Foundation finds that while female scientists have made steady gains in recent decades they face persistent career challenges. US universities and colleges employ far more male scientists than female ones and men earn significantly more in science occupations.

Nature, 495 2–24

Negotiation is a Dialogue: Compiled Advice

This post was inspired by the following paragraph from a Chronicle article:

If you're like most academics, you either negotiate a job offer poorly, or you don't negotiate at all. The cost to you of failing to negotiate your first faculty position can be significant. Here's just one example: Miranda, a recent Ph.D. in the social sciences, negotiated a 6 percent increase in salary over what her new department initially offered her, from $49,000 a year to $52,000. If we assume she enjoys a 30-year career and receives annual raises of 3 percent, the extra salary that she negotiated (just $3000 more) would translate into an additional $143,000 over what she would have earned without negotiating.

With this in mind, I’ve compiled advice from our CSWA resources, previous CSWA blog posts (here and here), other resources (here, here, here, here, and here), and advice I’ve been given.

Before launching into the advice, if you’re planning to attend the winter AAS, I highly recommend attending the ‘Negotiating Strategy and Tactics’ workshop on Thursday, January 10th. If you will not be attending the AAS, find out if your institution provides negotiation training.