Crosspost: Encieh Erfani brings attention to fellow displaced scholars

By Rachel Brazil, for Physics Today

The Iranian cosmologist has struggled to find a professional and physical place to call home after she publicly supported the country’s “Woman, Life, Freedom” protest movement.

Image Credit: Encieh Erfani (Physics Today)

Everything changed for Iranian cosmologist Encieh Erfani in the fall of 2022. On 16 September, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody in Tehran following her arrest for allegedly breaching the country’s strict dress code for women. In Mexico at the time for a visiting fellowship, Erfani followed the news as the largest demonstrations in Iran since 2009 ensued. 

A week after Amini’s death, Erfani spoke up in support of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protest movement and resigned from her faculty position at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences in Zanjan. Soon after, she says, her family in Iran received a threatening phone call. Erfani chose to remain in exile, fearing imprisonment if she were to return home.

Notably, she chose not to wear a hijab at conferences or on social media when she was outside Iran. “I knew that my colleagues [in Iran] would see and that I would pay for that,” she says. But, until recently, she “could never imagine that not wearing the hijab could cause you to be killed.”

Read more at

https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/online/43050/Q-A-Encieh-Erfani-brings-attention-to-fellow

Responses to the Executive Order on Immigration and Visas

Protests against the  EO.
Outside SCOTUS, DC,  Jan. 30th.
Photo courtesy of Hannah Wakeford.

Attached below are recent statements, petitions, etc. from the scientific community in response to the executive order (EO) signed by President Trump on January 27th, suspending all immigration rights to the United States for citizens from seven countries  (Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Libya, and Somalia) for 90 days. Images throughout this blog are not attached to original pieces, but were taken by professional astronomers and planetary scientists acting in their personal interests.

On a personal note, I am appalled by these recent actions, including this EO, and the impacts they have on our science and on this great nation.  I will continue to support those working on the front lines of this issue, like the American Civil Liberties Union, and want to pledge my full support to my colleagues, both here in the United States and abroad.

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1. AAS Urges President to Rescind Order on Visas & Immigration

This information is reposted from the following source: https://aas.org/media/press-releases/aas-urges-president-rescind-order-visas-immigration

The American Astronomical Society (AAS) has joined with 150 other scientific and engineering societies, national associations, and universities to send a letter to President Donald J. Trump¹ objecting to his January 27th executive order on visas and immigration. It expresses deep concern that the restrictions the new policy imposes “will have a negative impact on the ability of scientists and engineers in industry and academia to enter, or leave from and return to, the United States. This will reduce US science and engineering output to the detriment of America and Americans.”

Cross Posts: On the US Election: Inclusion, Allyship, & Solidarity in Astronomy & Planetary Science

Several statements, in addition to two (Nov. 9th and Nov. 14th) posted via the Women in Astronomy blog, have been posted by groups affiliated with the American Astronomical Society with regards to the recent US Presidential election and the need for inclusion, allyship, and the safe guarding of our colleagues and friends. Three of those pieces are attached (in brief forms with links to their fuller versions) here: The November 9th blog from the Astronomy in Color Blog, the November 18th post from AAS President Christine Jones on behalf of the AAS Council, and the November 20th post on the Women in Planetary Science Blog from the Men's Auxiliary Group who recently met at the Division for Planetary Sciences Conference.

Gender Politics

I would, ideally, like to keep politics out of this blog. However, given that this is an election year, politics seems to be butting its way into everything, so here goes.
The CSWA works hard to advocate for women in science. One issue that comes up over and over again is the problem of balancing career and family -- an issue for any working mother, really. A key to that balance is the ability to plan when and how many children to have -- something that many of us, like myself, take for granted.
So when a Republican-controlled House Committee convenes an all-male panel to discuss coverage for birth control, it's hard not to take it a little personally. It's bad enough that dependent care coverage is a real issue for many young astronomers, particularly grad students and postdocs, but to not even have coverage for birth control?
More recently was the whole kerfuffle between Ann Romney and Hilary Rosen about whether or not Romney "has actually never worked a day in her life." Given that Rosen was speaking specifically about women in the paid workforce, Romney's response that raising children was "work" sounded to me a lot like "gravity is only a theory."
Yes, raising children is a lot of work. So is being a scientist. Force times distance is also work. At any rate, why is it that stay-at-home mom are lavished with praise and put on pedestals, while working moms are frowned at? And, by the way, where is dad in all this?
It's great to be talking about getting more girls interested in science and math, since they are certainly smart enough. But girls are also smart enough to see the barriers ahead. If they can see that they won't be able to raise families on their own terms, no wonder they drop out.