Women In Astronomy

Monday, October 24, 2011

AASWOMEN for October 22, 2011

Posted by Unknown

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of October 21, 2011
eds. Joan Schmelz, Caroline Simpson, and Michele Montgomery

This week's issues:

1. A metric for workplace environment culture: How long do mothers nurse?

2. APS Meetings Child Care Grants

3. IBM Research Internship for Undergraduate Women

4. Department of Energy Scholars Program

5. Naval Research Enterprise Intern Program

6. Job Opportunities

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

A metric for workplace environment culture: How long do mothers nurse?

Posted by Ann Hornschemeier

If you think you have a positive culture at work for families, how would you measure it? One might be to determine how long, on average, the mothers of young children nurse their children. The workplace environment has a significant impact on the nursing relationship (availability of lactation rooms, flexibility in scheduling, maternity leave policies, etc).

There is a lot of literature showing that women tend to persist in nursing when they have peers who are doing the same. So, a lactation room, beyond just providing the legally required space for pumping milk, provides a networking location for your employees.

Approximately 17 months ago I began pumping milk at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in the lactation room there. At that time, my daughter was about two months old and there were several other women with older babies pumping milk. Over the last 19 months, women have had babies and joined the room. I see them logging in day after day. Now something interesting is happening. People are continuing to pump milk up to the year mark and beyond. This means women are not rotating out of the room as new ones come in. Within the next week, a second lactation room will be opened in our building to prepare for two more women to come off maternity leave.

We have three women pumping milk for children over a year old right now! Knowing how rare that is in the U.S. right now I would take it as a very positive indicator of the success of our lactation program and therefore of how good our workplace environment is for mothers of young children.

It is smart for institutions to be supportive in this way. Babies who receive breastmilk get sick less often and less severely and there is thus less absenteeism. Nursing is a source of comfort that provides a very fast means of emotional reconnection between mother and child at the end of a work day. Happier employees make happier bosses, right?

So, if you’re wondering how to make your workplace environment family-friendly, invest time, energy and resources into having a great lactation room, like my institution did.

Monday, October 17, 2011

AASWOMEN for October 14, 2011

Posted by Unknown

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of August 12, 2011
eds. Joan Schmelz, Caroline Simpson, and Michele Montgomery

This week's issues:

1. A Question About Professional Behavior: Responses

2. New NSF Workplace Flexibility Policies: A Suggestion

3. How will academic institutions improve work-life balance?

4. Interviewing without the Angst - A Webinar

5. L'Oreal USA Fellowships for Women in Science

6. [Women] Faculty for the Future Program

7. AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowships

8. Graduate Women in Science Fellowships

9. Job Opportunities

10. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter

11. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter

12. Access to Past Issues

Thoughts on Work-Life Balance

Posted by Ed Bertschinger

My subtitle is: How will academic institutions improve work-life balance?

I'm thrilled that astronomers are having so much impact in highlighting the need for policies that make it easier for young people to begin careers and families in science and technology (see Hannah's post of October 6). It was exciting to hear about the NSF Career-Life Balance Initiative announcement at the White House, and to see Michele Obama and Tina Tchen promote the arguments that our amazing colleagues gave after WIA-III. The policies announced by the NSF are a step in the right direction, and the NSF Director is to be commended for his dedication to long-term change.

The important question now is: who else will listen and act?

Earlier this week I held a luncheon at MIT for faculty, staff, postdocs and graduate students to discuss work-life balance and to ask how universities should respond to the NSF steps. Not surprisingly, there was a lot of interest in this topic, especially from postdocs. Unfortunately, nearly everyone who showed up was female. This is ironic because nearly all of my faculty members who have benefited from parental leave are male. I'm delighted that some men are starting to play a significant role in advocacy and policy in the AAS and elsewhere. It makes a huge difference for all of us.

At MIT, we are talking about possible ways to make childcare more affordable and to ask the thorny question of maternity leave for postdocs. In the life sciences, such steps would require drastic changes in the funding model. I don't feel that fact should deter us from improving the conditions for postdocs in the physical sciences, but universities have great inertia. Change will require greater advocacy within.

About a decade ago, after gender equity studies showed how discrimination was holding back women in science, universities responded with parental leave policies, on-site daycare, and tenure clock extensions. While these policies have helped to lessen gender inequity at the faculty level, they gave little relief to the postdocs who become tomorrow's faculty members. I wish I could start a new department with all the great talent that left the field because balancing work and family meant falling behind. We've got to stop the brain drain.

The NSF has taken first steps in a 10-year plan. It's time for universities and other grant-receiving institutions to take the next steps. What will it be? Loans or fellowships for childcare? One-year postdoc extensions for childbirth? How can we raise money for these?

Monday, October 10, 2011

AASWOMEN for October 7, 2011

Posted by Unknown

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of October 7, 2011
eds. Joan Schmelz, Caroline Simpson, and Michele Montgomery

This week's issues:

1. A Question About Professional Behavior: Responses

2. Developing a Diverse and Successful Undergraduate Program

3. Nominations for the CSWP Woman Physicist of the Month

4. New demographic study from U.K.

5. Site Visit Program Offers Insights and Advice for Women & Minorities

6. Aspen Center for Physics Winter Meetings and Summer Program

7. 2012 Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics

8. Job Opportunities

9. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter

10. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter

11. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter

Speaking Truth to Power

Posted by Hannah

Almost exactly two years ago, I was on the organizing committee for the Women in Astronomy and Space Science 2009 Conference. We were organizing a tour of the White House for early career astronomers, and we managed to arrange a meeting with Tina Tchen, the Executive Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls. I soon found myself in charge of facilitating the discussion, a bit of a daunting task to say the least!

I knew that we had only a limited amount of time to get a few key points across, so I decided to put together a presentation for Ms. Tchen. I met with the White House tour participants over lunch to brainstorm our key concerns, including action items that the federal government could take to help women in astronomy. I also enlisted the help of Bethany Cobb, Meredith Danowski, Laura Lopez, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, and Angie Wolfgang to help draft a document that we could leave with Ms. Tchen.

When the time came, the six of us spoke about our key talking points: health care, family leave, conscious and unconscious bias, education and public outreach, and mentoring. I came away feeling like we had a sympathetic ear in Ms. Tchen, and that the presentation had been very effective - much more so than a free-form discussion would have been. Still, a cynical voice in my head would sometimes pipe up with doubts than any real action would ever be taken.

Fast forward to last week - Tina Tchen announced in the Washington Post that the NSF would be adopting a number of policies that would allow grantees to take time off for parental and family leave. (See also this item in last week's AASWOMEN.) Our message had been heard after all!

The lesson I've taken away from this is that change is possible, no matter how daunting the obstacles may seem. You might imagine that the vast bureaucracy of federal government might be too resistant to change, or that your voice might fall on deaf ears, but if you craft your message well and deliver it to the right person, change can happen. I am so pleased about the policy changes being implemented at the NSF. Too many times I've heard of inflexibility of grants interfering with the careers of women with families, and I'm glad to hear that some of those barriers are falling.

-by Hannah