Astronomy
Any top ten list of affronts to women in science in 2012 would have to include the European Commission's tone deaf video effort purporting to encourage girls to enter science. The video that presented fashion models in a misguided marketing effort raised more than hackles and protest -- it stimulated a series of responses from women scientists and girls interested in science, which continue to stir the blogosphere. The cumulative impact of the marketing campaign gone awry reminds me of Neils Bohr's definition of a profound truth as one whose opposite is also a profound truth. An exclusionary presentation of women as fashion models pretending to be scientists has inspired a democratic outpouring of women scientists showing how much fun and accessible their work really is.
My favorite among these is this contest entry to the European Gender Summit meeting last month, commissioned by the European Science Foundation. I also recommend the Science Grrl website and Calendar and this video entry from Dartmouth graduate women.
How can we inspire more young women to enter science? We must change the perception that science is done by old white guys by showing girls more role models (not fashion models!). Videos are good, but so is in-person, as is done by women at my engineering school. The fields of astronomy and physics would be well served by promoting and rewarding such efforts. To all of you engaged in this work, thank you.
- 5 Myths
The news web site livescience.com has a series on "5 myths" in areas of health, science and society. Not all of the articles in that series are to my taste, but I liked the recent one on 5 myths about girls, math and science. Here is a summary...
- Challenging The Status Quo In Utah
I read an interesting article in the on-line Daily Herald about efforts to attract more women to science and technical fields at Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem, Utah. The study contains a number of specific and reasonable suggestions for how...
- "science: It's A Girl Thing" (just Add Lipstick)
Today?s guest blogger is Daryl Haggard, who has also been guest editing for the AASWOMEN Newsletter. Daryl is a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) at Northwestern University. She studies...
- Evaluating How We Present Role Models In Stem
Posted by L. Trouille Univ. of Michigan social psychologists Diana Betz and Denise Sekaquaptewa recently published a thought-provoking article that I thought might be of interest to our readers -- "My Fair Physicist? Feminine Math and Science Role Models...
- How To Encourage More Girls To Enter Science?
Women earn the majority of college degrees in the U.S. and, since 2009, the majority of doctorates. This is not the case in astronomy or physics. Why are we different? The American Institute of Physics has studied the enrollments of girls and boys in...
Astronomy
Science is a girl thing
Any top ten list of affronts to women in science in 2012 would have to include the European Commission's tone deaf video effort purporting to encourage girls to enter science. The video that presented fashion models in a misguided marketing effort raised more than hackles and protest -- it stimulated a series of responses from women scientists and girls interested in science, which continue to stir the blogosphere. The cumulative impact of the marketing campaign gone awry reminds me of Neils Bohr's definition of a profound truth as one whose opposite is also a profound truth. An exclusionary presentation of women as fashion models pretending to be scientists has inspired a democratic outpouring of women scientists showing how much fun and accessible their work really is.
My favorite among these is this contest entry to the European Gender Summit meeting last month, commissioned by the European Science Foundation. I also recommend the Science Grrl website and Calendar and this video entry from Dartmouth graduate women.
How can we inspire more young women to enter science? We must change the perception that science is done by old white guys by showing girls more role models (not fashion models!). Videos are good, but so is in-person, as is done by women at my engineering school. The fields of astronomy and physics would be well served by promoting and rewarding such efforts. To all of you engaged in this work, thank you.
- 5 Myths
The news web site livescience.com has a series on "5 myths" in areas of health, science and society. Not all of the articles in that series are to my taste, but I liked the recent one on 5 myths about girls, math and science. Here is a summary...
- Challenging The Status Quo In Utah
I read an interesting article in the on-line Daily Herald about efforts to attract more women to science and technical fields at Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem, Utah. The study contains a number of specific and reasonable suggestions for how...
- "science: It's A Girl Thing" (just Add Lipstick)
Today?s guest blogger is Daryl Haggard, who has also been guest editing for the AASWOMEN Newsletter. Daryl is a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) at Northwestern University. She studies...
- Evaluating How We Present Role Models In Stem
Posted by L. Trouille Univ. of Michigan social psychologists Diana Betz and Denise Sekaquaptewa recently published a thought-provoking article that I thought might be of interest to our readers -- "My Fair Physicist? Feminine Math and Science Role Models...
- How To Encourage More Girls To Enter Science?
Women earn the majority of college degrees in the U.S. and, since 2009, the majority of doctorates. This is not the case in astronomy or physics. Why are we different? The American Institute of Physics has studied the enrollments of girls and boys in...