Friday, August 4, 2017

AASWomen for August 4, 2017

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of August 4, 2017
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Christina Thomas, and Maria Patterson

This week's issues:

1. Women in Leadership: Power
2. How Sexual Harassment And Bias Undermine Women’s Access To Scientific Careers
3. The Plan to End Science’s Sexist #Manel Problem
4. Study Tracks Gender Ratios at Conferences
5. Advice to the Young from Pioneering Astrophysicist Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, Who Discovered the Composition of the Universe
6. Women Breaking Barriers: Career Advice from Leading Women in Business, Technology, and Beyond
7. Job Opportunities
8. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
9. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
10. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter

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1. Women in Leadership: Power
From Joan Schmelz via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

I’ve had many bosses. Two were great, several were mediocre, and a few were simply awful. I can count one sexual harasser, one bully, and at least one liar. One taught me the difference between leadership and management. None taught me about power… I thought power was bad. Over the course of [a “Women in Business – Transitioning to Leadership” workshop], Dr. [Mabel] Miguel completely changed my mind. Not only is power not bad (what you do with it can be bad), but for me, “Power is good” became the single most important take-away of the workshop. Here are the objectives of the session…

Read more at 


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2. How Sexual Harassment And Bias Undermine Women’s Access To Scientific Careers 
From: Aparna Venkatesan [avenkatesan_at_usfca.edu]

Science Friday [aired] a pre-recorded long segment of sexual harassment and bias for women in STEM fields. This dates from a year and a half ago, but [is still timely] now that [the “double jeopardy”] paper on harassment is out.

Listen to the Science Friday segment at


Read the published Clancy et al. article at


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3. The Plan to End Science’s Sexist #Manel Problem
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

“In October 2016, the organizers behind a microbiome conference sent promo materials to some prominent scientists. Elisabeth Bik was one of them. … But when she scanned the lineup, she noticed that almost every speaker was a man. Add more women, she suggested—or the conference should expect backlash. … The organizers … added more female speakers before the conference convened and issued a penitent statement. … But last week [Bik] saw the latest speaker list for the Kisaco-organized European Microbiome Congress happening this November: same story.”

For more information, including how to increase diversity at conferences, please see


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4. Study Tracks Gender Ratios at Conferences
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

“The exclusion of women in scientific conferences is hotly discussed, but often, there aren’t sufficient data to support either side of the argument, write the authors. Virologists Ann Palmenberg and Robert Kalejta of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, sought to lend credence to claims of unequal representation by digging through past line-ups of invited speakers from four key conferences in their field. … The results were clear: male speakers comprise 70 percent or more of the invited speaker pool at all four conferences throughout the time periods.”

Read the summary at


Read the journal article at


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5. Advice to the Young from Pioneering Astrophysicist Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, Who Discovered the Composition of the Universe
From: John Mather [johncm12_at_gmail.com]

While growing up in England, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, the first person to earn a Ph.D. in astronomy at Radcliffe-Harvard and the first woman to chair a Harvard department, “overcame tremendous counterforces of cultural resistance to change our understanding of the cosmos and pave the way for women in science… [She] endured “concentrated agony” as she tried to perform the social dances in which her peers engaged and was taunted for being “a girl who reads Plato for pleasure…” ”

Read more at


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6. Women Breaking Barriers: Career Advice from Leading Women in Business, Technology, and Beyond
From: Barry Franklin [barry_at_onlineeducation.com]

A new series about high-profile women in roles where they're traditionally underrepresented [has been created]. It's called Women Breaking Barriers and features interviews with successful professionals in STEM, venture capital, and other industries, who offer advice and share their experiences being the only women in the room.

Read more at


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7. Job Opportunities

For those interested in increasing excellence and diversity in their organizations, a list of resources and advice is here: https://cswa.aas.org/diversity.html#howtoincrease

- SOFIA Pipeline Software Engineers, Moffett Field, CA

- SOFIA Instrument Scientists, Moffett Field, CA

- Assistant Professor of Astronomy, Williams College, Williamstown, MA

- Lecturer in Astronomy & Observatory Supervisor, Williams College, Williamstown, MA

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8. 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.

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9. 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. 

Be sure to follow the instructions in the confirmation email. (Just reply back to the email list) 

To unsubscribe by email: 

Send email to aaswlist+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: 


You will have to create a Google Account if you do not already have one, using https://accounts.google.com/newaccount?hl=en  

Google Groups Subscribe Help: 


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10. Access to Past Issues

  
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

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