Friday, February 14, 2014

AASWOMEN Newsletter for February 14, 2014

AAS Committee on the Status of Women AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of February 14, 2014
eds. Michele M. Montgomery, Daryl Haggard, Nick Murphy, & Nicolle Zellner, guest ed. Elysse Voyer

Today's guest editor is Elysse Voyer. Elysse studies the evolution of star-forming galaxies in the local and distant universe. She received her PhD from The Catholic University of America in Washington D.C., carrying out her doctoral research as a NASA GSRP Fellow at Goddard Space Flight Center. She recently finished a postdoc at the Laboratoire de Astrophysique de Marseille in France working as a member of the GALEX Ultraviolet Virgo Cluster Survey (GUViCS) team.

This week's issues:

1. Please don't try to play the "socioeconomic class" trump card

2. Nail Salons: Appropriate Astronomy Women’s Group Venue?

3. Where Are All the Women?

4. MPs: gender bias 'putting women off top science jobs'

5. YseX Is a Matter of Concern Rather Than a Matter of Fact

6. 44 Stock Photos That Hope To Change The Way We Look At Women

7. US Team now accepting applications for the International Conference on Women in Physics

8. Summer Sessions announced for US Particle Accelerator School

9. 2014 Katherine Weimer Award: Deadline is April 1, 2014

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. Please don't try to play the "socioeconomic class" trump card
From: Caitlin Casey via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

I recently found myself in a heated internet debate on the concept of white, male privilege and whether or not affirmative action was necessary. The person I was arguing with -- who happen to be a white male, let's call him "Joe" -- was explaining to me that he hates the term "privilege" since everyone has privileges of different types and it's next to impossible to correct for those privileges fairly in job hires. Joe then gave me an example: "Obama's daughters have every privilege in the world next to my white, male cousins who will probably never live above the poverty line, but guess who'd lose when affirmative action comes into play?"

To read more, please see:

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2014/02/please-dont-try-to-play-socioeconomic.html

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2. Nail Salons: Appropriate Astronomy Women’s Group Venue?
From: Stella Offner via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

Recently, our astronomy women’s group contemplated expanding event variety, which sparked a debate about what type of events are appropriate for professional science women's groups*. It began when a graduate student suggested we visit a nail salon and have our nails done. This suggestion struck a chord with me. On one hand, I would love to go (how fun!) but on the other… I felt a niggling sense of unease: would this event be too girly for a professional women's group?

To read more, please see:

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2014/02/nail-salons-appropriate-astronomy.html

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3. Where Are All the Women?
From: Kate Kamdin via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com

In 2010, only about 20 percent of students with bachelor’s degrees or doctorates in physics were women, lagging far behind biology, chemistry, math and earth sciences. Only 8 percent of full physics professors are women. To address this underrepresentation, UC Berkeley hosted the West Coast Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics with more than 150 female students in attendance. In light of the press from the conference, I was asked to write about my experience as a woman in physics and why women in physics should stay in physics. I’d like to say now, before you read any further, that I am not here to tell women in physics to stay in physics. Women, I’m sure, are tired of being told what to do.

To read more, please see:

http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2014/02/where-are-all-women.html

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4. MPs: gender bias 'putting women off top science jobs'
From: Johanna Teske [jkteske_at_email.arizona.edu]

By Graeme Paton

This article and report discuss the findings and recommendations made by The Commons Science and Technology Committee (of the UK Parliament) about girls education in STEM subjects and the resulting path of women into STEM careers.

"[The] report said that girls were actually being encouraged to study tough - traditionally male-dominated - subjects at school but many of these efforts were 'wasted' when they entered the workplace. MPs said there was 'no single explanation' for the lack of gender diversity in STEM industries, but added: 'It is the result of perceptions and biases combined with the practicalities of combining a career with family.'"

There are many excellent (though not surprising to many of us) points made by this report, as well as tangible recommendations to the government, universities, and funding institutions in the UK. The US (and the AAS) should try to follow suite!

To read the article, please see:

http://tinyurl.com/nfpouxn

To read the full report and recommendations, please see:

http://tinyurl.com/nj35ncn

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5. YseX Is a Matter of Concern Rather Than a Matter of Fact
From: Daryl Haggard [dhaggard_at_northwestern.edu]

Book Review by Amade M'charek

The self-evidence and power of the X and Y chromosomes in science and society cannot be overestimated. As a binary couple they line up with other familiar biological categories such as eggs and sperm or estrogen and androgen, and increasingly they've come to stand for females and males. However, what if one did not take them as a matter of fact and instead asked how X and Y came to stand for female and male. What does it take to sex these chromosomes? Such questions refer not so much to the bodies in which these chromosomes are found but to the scientific practices that study them. Making the work of science visible, demonstrating how morals and values are part and parcel of the epistemology of science, means understanding the objects of science as "matters of concern"--objects that require care and deserve density.

Historian of science Sarah S. Richardson (Harvard University) has taken this demonstration as her very task. In her erudite and well-balanced Sex Itself, she "examines the interaction between cultural gender norms and genetic theories of sex from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present postgenomic age."

To read the book review, please see [subscription required]

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/343/6172/731.full

More info on Sex Itself is available at

http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo16835663.html

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6. 44 Stock Photos That Hope To Change The Way We Look At Women
From: Elysse Voyer [elysse.voyer_at_oamp.fr]

By Ashley Perez

Getty Images launched the “Lean In Collection” Monday in partnership with LeanIn.org, featuring more than 2,500 photos of female leadership in contemporary work and life.

The project began when Pam Grossman, director of visual trends at Getty Images, commissioned a study that would track the changes in the representation of girls and women in the media. The study turned into a presentation that Grossman later shared with Sheryl Sandberg and the Lean In team at Facebook Headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., last fall.

"This is such a big passion project for all of us, and cheesy as it sounds, by showing people powerful images of women, we thought maybe we could actually change the world," Grossman told BuzzFeed.

To read more and view the collection of photographs, please see:

http://tinyurl.com/lqm9vvw

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7. US Team now accepting applications for the International Conference on Women in Physics
From: WIPHYS, February 12, 2014

The US Team webpage is now live. They are accepting applications for team members until February 28.

For further information, please see:

http://www.uswip.org

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8. Summer Sessions announced for US Particle Accelerator School
From: WIPHYS, February 12, 2014

The next U.S. Particle Accelerator School will be sponsored by the University of New Mexico and held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. from June 16-27, 2014. An undergraduate fundamentals course and ten specialized graduate-level courses will be offered. Limited financial support is available.

For full course descriptions and an electronic application form, please visit:

http://uspas.fnal.gov

For further information please contact the USPAS Office at:

uspas_at_fnal.gov

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9. 2014 Katherine Weimer Award: Deadline is April 1, 2014
From: WIPHYS, February 12, 2014

The Weimer award is open to any female plasma scientist who received her Ph.D. within the ten-year period prior to April 1, 2014. Nominations are active for one selection cycle (three years). The award consists of $2,000 and funds for travel to the annual meeting where the award is to be presented. The recipient will be invited to give a talk at the Division’s annual meeting.

More details are available here:

http://www.aps.org/programs/women/scholarships/katherineweimer.cfm

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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

**Assistant Editor openings at the APS Ridge Office For details, please visist: http://www.aps.org/about/jobs/index.cfm

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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.

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12. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter

Join AAS Women List by email:

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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.

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