By Jessica Dempsey
Maunakea has the largest collective of astronomers in a single location - and the largest number of female scientists and engineers. After network and career building initiatives such as the women of Maunakea annual events - a survey was initiated to poll the demographics, experiences, and attitudes of the Observatories and astronomical institutes on the Hawaii islands to the challenges of equity and inclusion in our community.
The purpose was to create a baseline, a place to start. To understand just how much work we need to do to achieve equity and inclusion, and exactly what shape this work should take. Surveys such as these are only as useful if there is a commitment from leadership to initiate changes based on the results.
Since the survey, at East Asian Observatory we have set in motion a series of policy changes and initiatives based on the report and recommendations. We have reached gender equity in our science and operations groups and aim for full equity across our entire organization by 2022. We actively encourage our community of Observatories to set themselves similar goals. Across the astronomical community, Observatories and institutes alike, we achieve impossible technical and scientific feats on a near-daily basis. I'm pretty sure we can achieve this one too.
For more information about the survey results, please see the presentation I gave at the Gemini North Hilo Base Facility earlier this month. You can also access the full Maunakea Gender Equity and Diversity Survey Report.
