Friday, August 25, 2017

AASWomen Newsletter for August 25, 2017

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of August 25, 2017
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Cristina Thomas, and Maria Patterson

This week's issues:

1. Iran to Present Science Award in Memory of Maryam Mirzakhani
2. The problem with tech diversity reports
3. Women were the big winners at the 2017 Hugo Awards
4. Why men don’t believe the data on gender bias in science
5. To reduce gender biases, acknowledge them
6. Job Opportunities
7. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
8. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
9. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Iran to Present Science Award in Memory of Maryam Mirzakhani
From: Nicolle Zellner [nzellner_at_albion.edu]

Maryam Mirzakhani, an Iranian mathematician and Stanford University professor, was the only female winner of the prestigious Fields Medal. She passed away on July 14, 2017, of breast cancer at the age of 40. To honor her memory and influence, "Iranian Minister of Science, Research and Technology Mohammad Farhadi announced his ministry intends to give young women engaged in different fields of science an annual international award titled “Mirzakhani” as of the beginning of new school year..."

Read more at

http://ifpnews.com/exclusive/iran-award-memory-maryam-mirzakhani/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. The problem with tech diversity reports
From: Cristina Thomas [cthomas_at_psi.edu]

by Erin Carson

“Tracy Chou wanted to see the numbers.

In 2013, fresh off the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, an annual conference focused on the advancement and professional development of women in the field, Chou wrote a post on Medium asking for numbers on just how many women were in technical roles in the industry. Then a software engineer for Pinterest, Chou set up a crowdsourced repository where startup employees could catalog the gender breakdown of technical teams.”

Read more at

https://www.cnet.com/news/tech-diversity-reports-missing-metrics/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Women were the big winners at the 2017 Hugo Awards
From: Cristina Thomas [cthomas_at_psi.edu]

by Michael Schaub

“The Hugo Awards, widely considered the most prestigious science fiction and fantasy prizes, were announced Friday, with female authors dominating and N.K. Jemisin winning the award for novel for the second year in a row.

Jemisin, who became the first black author to win the Hugo’s novel award last year (for "The Fifth Season"), won again with the book's sequel, "The Obelisk Gate." The third and final book in Jemisin's trilogy, "The Stone Sky," will be released Tuesday.”

Read more at

http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-hugo-awards-20170814-story.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Why men don’t believe the data on gender bias in science
From: Cristina Thomas [cthomas_at_psi.edu]

by Alison Coil

“Earlier this summer Google engineer James Damore posted a treatise about gender differences on an internal company message board and was subsequently fired. The memo ignited a firestorm of debate about sex discrimination in Silicon Valley; this followed months of reporting on accusations of harassment at Uber and elsewhere. Sex discrimination and harassment in tech, and in science more broadly, is a major reason why women leave the field. Nationally, there has long been handwringing about why women are underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), which has led to calls for increased mentoring, better family leave policies, and workshops designed to teach women how to negotiate like men.”

Read more at

https://www.wired.com/story/why-men-dont-believe-the-data-on-gender-bias-in-science/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. To reduce gender biases, acknowledge them
From: Cristina Thomas [cthomas_at_psi.edu]

by Debbie Chachra

“Late in the afternoon of 6 December 1989, a man walked into the École Polytechnique in Montreal, Canada, carrying a hunting rifle, a knife, ammunition and a grudge against women in non-traditional roles — in this case, engineering. He went from class to class, targeting female students. Fourteen women died. It remains the worst mass murder in modern Canadian history.

At the time, I was an 18-year-old studying engineering at the University of Toronto. The shooting was a harsh lesson that some men don’t think women belong in science and technology. As I persisted in the field and became a faculty member, I heard this message again and again, albeit expressed less violently.”

Read more at

http://www.nature.com/news/to-reduce-gender-biases-acknowledge-them-1.22502

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. 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

-Professor of Statistics, University of Bath, Bath, UK
https://www.bath.ac.uk/jobs/Vacancy.aspx?ref=SF5136

-Assistant/Associate Professor in Statistics, University of Bath, Bath, UK
https://www.bath.ac.uk/jobs/Vacancy.aspx?ref=SF5137

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. 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.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. 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:

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

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:

http://support.google.com/groups/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=46606

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. Access to Past Issues

https://cswa.aas.org/AASWOMEN.html

Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.

No comments :