AASWOMEN Newsletter for April 22, 2016

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of April 22, 2016
eds: Daryl Haggard, Nicolle Zellner, Elysse Voyer, & Heather Flewelling

This week's issues:

1. Social Justice in the Physics and Astronomy Classroom
2. White Privilege Conference 17      
3. President’s Column: Combatting Bias in the Trenches
4. The complex role of gender in faculty hiring
5. How Marvel's 'Thor' Contest Empowered a Group of Young Women Science Buffs
6. Why We Need Intersectionality Week  
7. Job Opportunities    
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

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1. Social Justice in the Physics and Astronomy Classroom  
From: Daryl Haggard via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

At the beginning of this winter term (in Montreal we don't even try to call it the "spring" term), I tried for the first time to directly address social justice issues, including racism and harassment, in my physics classroom…

With considerable trepidation, I tackled this the way brand new faculty tackle most things, I just tried something. And yes, it was clumsy. I share my experience here because I want to embolden other junior (and senior) faculty to take a stab at this conversation and because I would like to learn from those of you who have made (or will make) similar attempts.

Read more at

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2016/04/social-justice-in-physics-and-astronomy.html  

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2.  White Privilege Conference 17
From: Ed Bertschinger via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

White people who want to improve the experiences of others have to work against the socialization and norms of society, which convey fear of people of color, of Muslims, of transgender people, of people with disabilities, and so on. If it was possible to be unaware of this fear and its impact before, this year's presidential campaign should make it clear to anyone, regardless of her/his/their politics, that we live in a divided and troubled society.

Read more  

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2016/04/white-privilege-conference-17.html

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3. President’s Column: Combatting Bias in the Trenches
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

In her column, AAS President Meg Urry urges us in the community to think about how to combat gender bias in proposal reviews.

Read more at

https://aas.org/posts/news/2016/04/president%E2%80%99s-column-combatting-bias-trenches

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4. The complex role of gender in faculty hiring
From:  Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

"Gender bias in hiring is not blatant...but gender-associated differences in productivity, postdoctoral experience, and institutional prestige of degree-granting institutions—which are likely due to bias against women during the training process—largely account for the observed gender imbalance in computer science faculty hiring networks."

Read more about hiring computer science faculty at

http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2016/04/complex-role-gender-faculty-hiring

Read "Gender, Productivity, and Prestige in Computer Science Faculty Hiring Networks" at

http://arxiv.org/abs/1602.00795

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5. How Marvel's 'Thor' Contest Empowered a Group of Young Women Science Buffs    
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

“Natalie Portman's physicist may not be returning for 'Thor: Ragnarok,' but her character has forever changed the lives of 10 girls from around the country who excel at STEM studies.”

Read more at

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/how-marvels-thor-contest-empowered-884464

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6. Why We Need Intersectionality Week
From: Meg Urry [meg.urry@yale.edu]

At the annual AAUW National Convention, a group of Younger Women’s Task Force chapter directors got together to discuss social justice, including the topic of intersectionality. As a result of those discussions, the first-ever YWTF Intersectionality Week will take place May 1–7.

Read more at

http://www.aauw.org/2016/04/13/intersectionality-week/

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7. Job Opportunities

For those interested in increasing excellence and diversity in their organizations, a list of resources and advice is here: http://www.aas.org/cswa/diversity.html#howtoincrease.

- Assistant Professor of Astronomy (tenure-track), University of Hawai`i at Hilo (Big Island)
   http://hilo.hawaii.edu/uhh/hr/vacancy/982

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10. Access to Past Issues

http://www.aas.org/cswa/AASWOMEN.html  

Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

White Privilege Conference 17

Last week and this weekend I attended the 17th White Privilege Conference, held in Philadelphia. The conference examines the challenging concepts of privilege and oppression, and helps participants build strategies to advance equity and inclusion in their lives and their institutions. I was a first-time attendee. The conference was both challenging and informative, and while it was personally very enjoyable for me, it was not necessarily so for others. As a senior white male, I have a lot of privileges, and whether I intend it or not, whether I am aware or not, these privileges generally come at the expense of others. This conference does a great job of opening eyes to this inequity and to illustrating the difference between intent and impact.

White people who want to improve the experiences of others have to work against the socialization and norms of society, which convey fear of people of color, of Muslims, of transgender people, of people with disabilities, and so on. If it was possible to be unaware of this fear and its impact before, this year's presidential campaign should make it clear to anyone, regardless of her/his/their politics, that we live in a divided and troubled society.

The conference title suggests an opportunity for white people to learn about their privilege, and indeed this is a big part of the experience. But who are the teachers? Is it people of color or other white folk?

The language can be off-putting or uncomfortable to those unused to social justice terminology. A person who has never recognized their privilege, never learned how other people are treated differently, can easily deduce that being told they have privilege is the same as being told they are a bad person. My advice is to get over it, just as you got over your PhD qualifying exam. Being an astronomer conveys many privileges, and so does having a college degree or being white in a department store. What is bad is when privilege combines with stereotypes and power to create systemic oppression. By oppression I mean unfair, unequal treatment that limits the ability of others to achieve their goals or potential. It does not have to be a conscious act of the privileged.

There are plenty of examples of oppression of women in astronomy ranging from men speaking over and not giving credit to women, to biased hiring and promotion processes, all the way to sexual assault. The oppression is greater for women who are also racial, religious, or sexual minorities. While the focus of the White Privilege Conference is on race dynamics, there is a strong current of intersectionality.

The conference had a remarkable set of plenary speakers and workshops, and participants got many opportunities to see white privilege in action. This ranged from a white male speaker who took extra time and said he would do so despite being asked by the organizers to conclude his talk, to many black people bearing the burden of white people's anxiety and microaggressions. This is hard work, and those with privilege have a difficult time unless they can show great cultural humility, as described by pediatrician and social activist Melanie Tervalon.

UPenn psychologist Prof. Howard C. Stevenson summed it up very well in his concluding plenary address. "Courage is seeing yourself as the racial elephant." I recognized the truth of his statement, "You are the elephant in the room." As a senior white male, I carry that with me and must never forget. Stevenson's concluding question turned this revelation into the possibility of healing: "Are you ready?" That is, am I ready to call out the elephant of my white privilege and then to use that privilege to halt oppression and serve others?

As lawyer, activist, and inspirational speaker Vernā Myers said in her keynote, "When enough of us are willing to forfeit our privilege, then all of us get to live in justice."

Are you ready? Are you willing? Come to the next White Privilege Conference and see!

Genetics, Race, and White Privilege

Stephanie Gogarten has a PhD in Astronomy but currently works as a staff scientist in the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Washington. She lives on an island near Seattle with her wife and three young children.

I recently read the book Seeing White, recommended by John Johnson. As an astronomer turned statistical geneticist (Career profile), I spend a fair amount of time at work thinking about genetic ancestry and how that relates to the social construct of race. As a person with some African-American heritage who looks white, I have also struggled with how to define my own race: other people see me as white, but how do I see myself?

In reading the book, I was especially struck by the stories of people whose identities cross the boundary between white and non-white. In particular, I was interested in the story of Gregory Williams, author of Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black. I still remember the dinner table conversation when I was a young child in which my parents explained to me that although my family appeared white, my father's identity was mixed race European American, African American, and Native American. Due to pale skin and a strong resemblance to my white mother, I am seen as white by everyone I meet. My sister has darker skin and more closely resembles my father, so she is more frequently seen as mixed race (at least, people are not shocked when they learn she is mixed race, as they are with me). In the shuffling of genetic traits from one generation to the next, I got more of the external features usually associated with whiteness -- a chance occurrence that has shaped both our identities. 

Confronting My Own Racism

I am a white woman, and I have spent most of my life not thinking about race. Not in a "we live in a post-racial America" type of way, but just that on an everyday level it didn't really come up that much. Of course when something overtly racist happened, I would notice and be upset by it. I knew that people of color (POC) are underrepresented in STEM, I thought this was a bad thing, and I wanted to increase the number of underrepresented minorities (URM) in Astronomy and Physics. But overall, race and racism was an occasional thought that would briefly come to my mind, and then quickly leave.

Source: Washington Post