Astronomy
I have had this come up twice now in rather significant ways: someone is being considered for a position on a relatively powerful committee and the various candidates are of course very busy. For some reason, the decision was almost made (luckily some intervention occurred!) that a particular woman was just too busy and would turn us down and should not be asked. I have had this come up in a context where a senior male was making the nominations and where a mid-career female was making the nominations. The mid-career female mentioned that she probably shouldn?t be ?protecting? the junior woman in this way. I found this to be interesting: are we not trusting the person in question, whom we regard as highly qualified for the committee, to make the right decision about serving?
I tried to do a quick internet search on the topic and came up with interesting articles about how women were too busy for various other things but didn?t find information on this.
In both cases, however, I suggested to the nominator that the candidate should be able to make the decision herself if she is too busy. It might be that this particular opportunity is very important to her and she would step down from something else to do it (who knows!). Often just being invited to serve can give someone a boost to their career, so we have to be careful not to withhold those invitations. We might inadvertently "protect" them from career advancement.
- Advice: When To Say Yes, How To Say No.
Today's guest blogger is Fran Bagenal. Fran is a faculty member at the University of Colorado at Boulder and a former editor of CSWA's STATUS magazine. She was on the science teams of the Galileo mission to Jupiter and the Deep Space 1 mission...
- Management Restructuring
As mentioned in last week's AASWOMEN, the time has come for me to step down from the CSWA and make room for new blood. I'd say I'm doing it to "spend more time with my family" but that's not really true. (Why this phrase is a euphemism...
- Aas Prizes ? Self-nominations
You have probably realized that the deadline for nominations for AAS prizes has shifted earlier, to June 30. This means you still have a few weeks to submit nominations. Those of us who are frustrated at the continued dearth of women prize recipients...
- Invited Speakers
Giving invited talks is an important part of any scientist?s career. It is an opportunity to sell his or her science topic in a long format and to a large audience. Yet, it seems that the same small subset of (mostly older male) scientists is asked to...
- Aaswomen For March 5, 2010
AAS Committee on the Status of Women Issue of March 05, 2010 eds. Joan Schmelz, Caroline Simpson & Michele Montgomery This week's issues: 1. Meet the (New and Continuing) Editorial Staff of STATUS2. AAS Childcare3. Too Busy: A Comment4. Blewett...
Astronomy
Do we try to ?protect? busy women by not inviting them?
I have had this come up twice now in rather significant ways: someone is being considered for a position on a relatively powerful committee and the various candidates are of course very busy. For some reason, the decision was almost made (luckily some intervention occurred!) that a particular woman was just too busy and would turn us down and should not be asked. I have had this come up in a context where a senior male was making the nominations and where a mid-career female was making the nominations. The mid-career female mentioned that she probably shouldn?t be ?protecting? the junior woman in this way. I found this to be interesting: are we not trusting the person in question, whom we regard as highly qualified for the committee, to make the right decision about serving?
I tried to do a quick internet search on the topic and came up with interesting articles about how women were too busy for various other things but didn?t find information on this.
In both cases, however, I suggested to the nominator that the candidate should be able to make the decision herself if she is too busy. It might be that this particular opportunity is very important to her and she would step down from something else to do it (who knows!). Often just being invited to serve can give someone a boost to their career, so we have to be careful not to withhold those invitations. We might inadvertently "protect" them from career advancement.
- Advice: When To Say Yes, How To Say No.
Today's guest blogger is Fran Bagenal. Fran is a faculty member at the University of Colorado at Boulder and a former editor of CSWA's STATUS magazine. She was on the science teams of the Galileo mission to Jupiter and the Deep Space 1 mission...
- Management Restructuring
As mentioned in last week's AASWOMEN, the time has come for me to step down from the CSWA and make room for new blood. I'd say I'm doing it to "spend more time with my family" but that's not really true. (Why this phrase is a euphemism...
- Aas Prizes ? Self-nominations
You have probably realized that the deadline for nominations for AAS prizes has shifted earlier, to June 30. This means you still have a few weeks to submit nominations. Those of us who are frustrated at the continued dearth of women prize recipients...
- Invited Speakers
Giving invited talks is an important part of any scientist?s career. It is an opportunity to sell his or her science topic in a long format and to a large audience. Yet, it seems that the same small subset of (mostly older male) scientists is asked to...
- Aaswomen For March 5, 2010
AAS Committee on the Status of Women Issue of March 05, 2010 eds. Joan Schmelz, Caroline Simpson & Michele Montgomery This week's issues: 1. Meet the (New and Continuing) Editorial Staff of STATUS2. AAS Childcare3. Too Busy: A Comment4. Blewett...