Women In Astronomy

It's come to my attention that my post on how hard it is to balance work and family may have unduly alarmed and depressed some of my readers. The things is, I don't believe in maintaining the illusion that I can get everything done with effortless ease. What's the point in blogging about any of it if I'm not going to be perfectly honest about my experiences? On the other hand, who's going to keep reading if I'm negative all the time? Besides, it's summertime!

Summertime, from Porgy and Bess

So without further ado, here are some of my favorite feel-good show tunes, perfect for buoying your hopes that everything will turn out just fine. Share yours in the comments!

I Have Confidence, from the Sound of Music

(Not Julie Andrews, but a great rendition nonetheless)

I Believe In You from How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying

Do You Hear the People Sing from Les Miserables

because there's nothing quite like a good martial anthem to get the blood going

Anything Can Happen from Mary Poppins

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

AASWomen for July 30, 2010

Posted by Hannah

Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of July 30, 2010
eds. Joan Schmelz, Caroline Simpson amp; Michele Montgomery

This week's issues:

1. "The Literature" vs. Tierney

2. Blewett Scholarship Recipients Announced for 2010

*** FOLLOWING JOB POSTING TAKEN FROM WIPHYS ***

3. Physical Scientist Position at NASA Headquarters

4. How to Submit, Subscribe, or Unsubscribe to AASWOMEN

5. Access to Past Issues of AASWOMEN

"The Literature vs. Tierney

Posted by Caroline Simpson

Posted on behalf of the author, Elizabeth D. Freeland.

I recently read the article "Legislation Won't Close Gender Gap in Sciences" 6/7/10 by John Tierney. Tierney argues that requiring scientists to attend workshops to enhance gender equity is a waste of money because gender bias does not exist. I find flaws with how he draws his conclusion, take issue with his lampooning of the NSF ADVANCE program, and believe that actively addressing bias can help reduce it. That said, Tierney’s first claim is that people who believe gender bias exists only dredge up a study of the Swedish Medical Research. That’s a bit unfair, although it is true that, as physical scientists, we often don’t do as good a job as we should in using the research in economics, psychology, and sociology to support our arguments. To help remedy this, and simultaneously take on Tierney, I briefly review the studies he brings up and throw in a few I’ve heard about elsewhere. Admittedly, towards the end I have fewer sources. Perhaps, though, others can respond and let us all know of recent studies which could fill the gaps.

There have been many studies on bias. Two that are often mentioned are the effect of screens on gender balance in hiring of musicians [1]; and the effect of gender-identifying names on resumes [2]. There is also V. Valian’s book "Why so Slow?," which discusses the cognitive origins of gender bias [3]. Finally, a more recent study focusses on implicit bias and demonstrates evidence for it [4]. One concludes from such studies that learned policies and procedures can diminish bias. For more articles, see Refs. [5].

(click on "Read More" to see full post)

Work-Family: On Balance

Posted by Hannah

As rosy a picture I painted in my previous posting on work-family balance, the truth of the matter is that raising children is not an easy task. Trying to raise children while establishing a career is even tougher. On the good days, I count the number of years until my youngest turns 18. On the bad days, I wonder if I should discourage young women from pursuing careers in science because it's simply impossible to have it all.

While mulling these rather depressing thoughts, I came across this article in the Washington Post, talking about the difficulties of parenting while pursuing a career in business. You could easily substitute "business" for "science" and "executive" for "professor" and everything Sharon Meers says applies equally well. Some choice quotes from the article:

When a father of small kids is late or looks dazed in a meeting, we're more willing to assume it's an aberration, a passing phase, and he'll snap back to top form because he values his job. We give him the benefit of the doubt. Do we give women the same?

After spending a weekend with his kids alone, one male executive told me, "If every man in Congress had to do this, we'd have some very different laws."

Meers writes that VP Joe Biden is setting up a Middle Class Task Force that can address some of these work-family balancing issues from a public policy standpoint. I agree with her that this sounds very promising, especially if they can successfully reframe the problems of working parents "not as women's issues" but as "issues of middle class economic security" as described in the article. Let's hope that this Task Force succeeds.