Astronomy

AASWOMEN Newsletter for November 06, 2015

AAS Committee on the Status of Women AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of November 06, 2015
eds: Daryl Haggard, Nicolle Zellner, Meredith Hughes, Elysse Voyer, &
Heather Flewelling

This week's issues:

1. What a Just Response to Oppression Can Look Like

2. Why Gender Equity is Everyone's Business

3. AAS Ethics Task Force Seeks Comments & Suggestions

4. Our simple calculator lets you figure out how much having a child affects your salary

5. After a Year of Disgraceful Sexism in Science, Congresswoman Speier Calls on the American Association for the Advancement of Science to Lead the Way to a Solution

6. How to make science safer for women

7. Should Academic Conferences Have Codes of Conduct?

8. Microagression, Micro Problem? On the need for Conference ?Codes of Conduct?

9. Gender bias calculator

10. Job Opportunities

11. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter

12. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter

13. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter

1. What a Just Response to Oppression Can Look Like
From: Jessica Kirkpatrick via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

The below guest post by Dr. Sarah Ballard has been reproduced (with permission) from Prof. John Johnson's blog: mahalonottrash.blogspot.com

?What woman here is so enamored of her own oppression that she cannot see her heelprint upon another woman?s face?? ? Audre Lorde

I?m writing this piece to say things women of color have already said, and better than I could have. Please read their work. Our community has suffered a traumatic upheaval this month. I won?t attempt to link to even a representative sample of the articles, think pieces, and anti-harassment policy documents that circulated among astronomers. Trusted colleagues and friends urged folks to care for themselves. The groundswell gave rise to a ?widespread ripple of PTSD (or something close to it) through women in the field,? as Lucianne Walkowicz put it. I saw other male astronomers I deeply esteem publicly grappling with feelings of complicity. Every day brought fresh distress as the extent of harassment, and the secrecy and protection of it, became apparent at every level within our academic institutions.

To read more, please see

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2015/11/what-just-response-to-oppression-can.html

2. Why Gender Equity is Everyone's Business
From: Ed Bertschinger via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

I thought of starting this blog entry with a top-10 list of reasons, but it is hard to balance humor and earnestness (I'm a diversity geek, after all!), so I'll take the earnest approach. Perhaps with a dash of humor. First, the earnest:

A few weeks ago a faculty colleague at another university asked what fraction of female faculty members are supportive of Women in Science or Gender Equity groups at my university and others. My colleague was struggling with hearing from women who didn't want to associate with such groups. As a result, they are sometimes advised by men!

To read more, please see

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2015/11/why-gender-equity-is-everyones-business.html

3. AAS Ethics Task Force Seeks Comments & Suggestions
From: Christina Richey via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

This post, by Dara Norman (Chair, AAS Ethics Task Force) was originally posted by the American Astronomical Society.

Dear Colleagues:

In her President's Column on 15 October, Meg Urry addressed the need for our community to examine lessons learned and next steps following the news about Prof. Geoff Marcy. She also acknowledged that the current AAS ethics statement needs to be updated; it uses vague language and gives no guidance on procedures either to file a complaint or to follow up on one. In response to this recognition, Meg has appointed me (Dara Norman, AAS Councilor), to chair a task force whose charge is to revise the ethics statement. The other members are Jack Burns (AAS Vice-President) and Christine Jones (AAS President Elect).

Meg wrote, "This task force will study similar policies at other scientific societies; change or augment descriptions of proscribed behavior in the code; develop a set of procedures for initiating and carrying out an investigation of a member who appears to be in violation of the code; and define the possible sanctions available to the AAS, and whether those should include prohibition from meetings, expulsion, and/or other steps. The new procedures and sanctions will be developed with recent events in mind but will be applicable to the much broader suite of misconduct defined in the code of ethics. I have asked this task force to work as quickly as possible."

To read more, please see

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2015/11/aas-ethics-task-force-seeks-member.html

4. Our simple calculator lets you figure out how much having a child affects your salary
From: Johanna Teske [jteske_at_carnegiescience.edu]

by Jeff Guo and Kevin Schaul

Having a child brings obvious new expenses ? diapers, cribs, strollers and babysitters, to name a few. But for women, having children also has a noticeable effect on how much money they make.

It?s well-established that many working women with children tend to earn less than similar women without children. Call it the baby penalty. This isn?t a universal truth, though. Motherhood seems to provide a financial boost for some women. It?s a baby bonus.

You can use this calculator to see how ? based on a statistical analysis by Columbia University researchers using Census data ? having a baby affects a woman like you, or a woman with different characteristics. The results may surprise you.

To read more, please see

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/business/wonkblog/how-children-affect-salary

5. After a Year of Disgraceful Sexism in Science, Congresswoman Speier
Calls on the American Association for the Advancement of Science to Lead
the Way to a Solution
From: Johanna Teske [jteske_at_carnegiescience.edu]

WASHINGTON, DC ? Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) sent a letter today to Dr. Rush Holt, head of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and publisher of Science magazine, criticizing the numerous, highly public cases of sexism in science that have unfolded over the past year, and calling on AAAS to take a leadership role in addressing this serious problem.

To read more, please see

http://speier.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1784:after-a-year-of-disgraceful-sexism-in-science-congresswoman-speier-calls-on-the-american-association-for-the-advancement-of-science-to-lead&catid=20:press-releases&Itemid=14

http://speier.house.gov/images/Correspondence/AAAS_Letter_Nov2015.pdf

6. How to make science safer for women
From: Heather Flewelling [heather_at_ifa.hawaii.edu]

by Emanuella Grinberg

(CNN) It's a lesson most female astronomers learn at some point in their careers when they face unwanted sexual behavior from professors, advisers or anyone who holds their future in their hands. Put your head down and don't say anything. Focus on the science.

To read more, please see

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/04/living/geoff-marcy-astronomy-harassment-feat/index.html

7. Should Academic Conferences Have Codes of Conduct?
From: Meg Urry [meg.urry_at_yale.edu]

by Kelly J. Baker

About three years ago, I was on multiple panels at a major joint conference in my field. In the first panel, an argument broke out among male audience members about the significance of gender in the presented papers. The conversation took an unpleasant turn when one dude suggested that the gender of panelists mattered, too. This would be more obvious, he stated, if female panelists ?presented papers in their underwear.? Awkward silence reigned as the audience tried to figure out how to respond. I quipped to my fellow panelists that, while I usually presented in my underwear, this panel was an exception. Some laughed nervously. The chair looked frightened as he attempted to direct our attention to another paper.

To read more, please see

https://chroniclevitae.com/news/1182-should-academic-conferences-have-codes-of-conduct?cid=oh&utm_source=oh&utm_medium=en&elq=07e120312e9641a3bcf10ec036697393&elqCampaignId=1766&elqaid=6787&elqat=1&elqTrackId=b4e5a33a79e5437dafc658c9f496d7fe

8. Microaggression, Micro Problem? On the Need for Conference ?Codes of Conduct?
From: Heather Flewelling [heather_at_ifa.hawaii.edu]

by Charlie Rapple

I recently learned the term ?microaggression?, used to describe small incidents of thoughtless prejudice or unintended discrimination that together can add up to a miserable catalog for those who experience it. Wikipedia tells us that the phrase was coined by a Harvard psychiatrist in 1970 in the context of racism, but was soon expanded to sexism and thence to ?the casual degradation of any socially marginalized group, such as poor people, disabled people and sexual minorities.? The discussion I listened to, between free speech champion Tom Slater and comedian Ava Vidal, touched on several such examples. My initial reaction was eye-rolling despair for our modern times ? such as that I typically reserve for, say, ?all must have prizes?. Many examples of ?microaggression? seemed born of curiosity, an interest in (but lack of fluency in the language of) otherness, naïvety rather than bigotry. I nodded vigorously along with Tom when he suggested that ?overreacting? runs the risk of choosing division over unity.

To read more, please see

http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2015/11/05/microaggression-micro-problem-on-the-need-for-conference-codes-of-conduct

9. Gender bias calculator
From Johanna Teske [jteske_at_carnegiscience.edu]

by Thomas Forth

This calculator was inspired by this AWIS blog post on gender biases in recommendation letters. The blog post and the scientific paper it is based on also explain why this gender bias is important.

To read more, please see

http://www.tomforth.co.uk/genderbias

10. 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

- Two Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in Astronomy positions, University of Connecticut https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/5978

- ALMA Postdoctoral Fellowships at the Joint ALMA Observatory, Santiago https://cw.na1.hgncloud.com/nrao/loadJobPostingDetails.do?jobPostingID=102000&source=jobList

- Several Postdoctoral fellow postions in astronomy, planetary science, atmospheric science or astrobiology at McGill University http://msi.mcgill.ca/Jobs.html

- Two tenure-track Assistant Professor positions, University of Colorado, Boulder https://www.jobsatcu.com/postings/107157

11. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter

To submit an item to the AASWOMEN newsletter, including replies to topics, send email to aaswomen_at_aas.org

All material will be posted unless you tell us otherwise, including your email address.

When submitting a job posting for inclusion in the newsletter, please include a one-line description and a link to the full job posting.

Please remember to replace "_at_" in the e-mail address above.

12. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter

Join AAS Women List by email:

Send email to aaswlist+subscribe_at_aas.org from the address you want to have subscribed. You can leave the subject and message blank if you like.

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To unsubscribe by email:

Send email to aawlist+unsubscribe_at_aas.org from the address you want to have UNsubscribed. You can leave the subject and message blank if you like.

To join or leave AASWomen via web, or change your membership settings:

https://groups.google.com/a/aas.org/group/aaswlist

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13. Access to Past Issues

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

Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

- Aaswomen Newsletter For September 18, 2015
AAS Committee on the Status of WomenIssue of September 18, 2015eds: Daryl Haggard, Nicolle Zellner, Meredith Hughes, & Elysse Voyer This week's issues: 1. Meet your CSWA committee: Christina Richey2. Addressing Gender Bias in the SDSS Collaboration3....

- Aaswomen Newsletter For August 14, 2015
AAS Committee on the Status of Women AAS Committee on the Status of Women Issue of August 14, 2015 eds: Daryl Haggard, Nicolle Zellner, Meredith Hughes, & Elysse Voyer This week's issues: 1. Strategies for Combining Family and Career2. Fix the...

- Aaswomen Newsletter For May 29, 2015
AAS Committee on the Status of Women Issue of May 29, 2015 eds: Daryl Haggard, Nicolle Zellner, Meredith Hughes, & Elysse Voyer This week's issues: 1. Leadership, Role Models . . . and Captain Kathryn Janeway(?) 2. Homework for Those Seeking to...

- Aaswomen Newsletter For May 15, 2015
AAS Committee on the Status of Women Issue of May 15, 2015 eds: Daryl Haggard, Nicolle Zellner, Meredith Hughes, & Elysse Voyer This week's issues: 1. Statement affirming respectful debate during current TMT protests2. Diversity 101: Nine Simple...

- Aaswomen Newsletter For May 8, 2015
AAS Committee on the Status of Women Issue of May 15, 2015 eds: Daryl Haggard, Nicolle Zellner, Meredith Hughes, & Elysse Voyer This week's issues: 1. Statement affirming respectful debate during current TMT protests2. Diversity 101: Nine Simple...

Astronomy