Our Top Picks for August 13th, 2018

⭃In Beryl Benderly's article, "Rosalind Franklin and the damage of gender harassment," Beryl explores the environment that Rosalind was making her discoveries in, and how things are both different and the same today. She speaks on the "Matilda effect," which is the practice of ascribing women's accomplishments to men, and how one of the things that may be holding women back and creating inequality is that women do not have the same "freedom to fail" that men enjoy. 

Flickr Image from Helios.

⭃Abstract: "As part of their efforts to increase the diversity of their workforce and student body, medical schools, academic medical centers, and individual departments are increasingly crafting public statements about their value for and commitment to diversity. In order for these statements to effectively enhance diversity, however, care must be taken, as research shows that some diversity-related messages can backfire. To avoid the pitfalls and realize the promise of diversity statements, this article presents recommendations based on experimental studies that investigate the impact of diversity messages. These studies suggest that diversity statements be aspirational, emphasize autonomy, and express a value for difference." Check out the full article here.


⭃Are you just beginning your career as an independent researcher and want some insight on how to run your very own research group? This guide: A career in research, could be just what you need. With input from over 100 researchers and interview panel members, this compilation of tips and tricks can help kick-start your career as a successful independent scientist! 


⭃In a world in which men dominate leadership roles, should we focus on changing the systems and structures that favor men at women’s expense? Or should we emphasize the tactics individual women can use to get ahead? Check out Harvard Business Review's research on this matter in the article, "'Lean In' Messages and the Illusion of Control."


⭃Tokyo Medical University's confirmed the allegations that they were discriminating against female prospective students by inflating scores on the entrance exam of male students. The university did not award any extra points to female students, but if a male was taking the exam for the first, second or third time, they would be given a bonus ranging from 10-20 points. Read more about how these allegations are unfolding in the article, "Tokyo Medical University admits subtracting points from repeat applicants' scores and boosting others to secure donations."


⭃BethAnn McLaughlin is a Vanderbilt University neuroscientist who has started online petitions calling on the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science(AAAS) to revoke the memberships of those found guilty of sexual harassment or assault. Through her advocacy, she got the website RateMyProfessors.com—which lets college students rate their professors—to drop its red chili pepper professor "hotness” rating. In this article, McLaughlin speaks with The Scientist about how she got started on her advocacy, the various reactions to it, and why she’s made it a priority.

Flickr Image from Agang SA.

⭃Join hundreds who have signed the Gender Avenger Pledge that declares: "I will not serve as a panelist at a public conference when there are no women on the panel." Sign up here. 


⭃When young men and women come up against sexist stereotypes masquerading as science, Angela Saini wants them to be armed with the facts. “I call my book ammunition,” she says of her 288-page prize-winning work Inferior: The True Power of Women and the Science that Shows It. “There are people out there who insist that somehow the inequalities we see in society are not just because of historic discrimination, but also because of biology – the idea that there are factors within us that will cause men or women to be better at some things than others.” Check out this article, "The book that fights sexism with science," to see more about what drove Saini to write her book. 


⭃AI is often criticized for its tendency to perpetuate society’s biases, but it’s equally capable of fighting them. Machine learning is currently being used to scan scientific studies and news stories to identify prominent scientists who aren’t featured on Wikipedia. Many of these scientists are female, and their omission is particularly significant in the world’s most popular encyclopedia, where 82 percent of biographies are written about men. Check out this article, "AI spots 40,000 prominent scientists overlooked by Wikipedia," to see how AI can be used to literally write the wrongs left behind as a product of years of societal gender discrimination. 


⭃Check out the lastest NIH research, "Trends in Diversity within the NIH-funded workforce."

Get involved! Join our slack group and stay current on Workshops offered around the country!

Join our Slack group and follow the link to see the workshop below:

National Institutes of Health

Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers

Committee on Advancing Women in Independent Positions Office of Research on Women’s Health 

https://slack-files.com/files-pri-safe/TAY2NTBKK-FC1MED6FM/workshop_on_advancing_women_in_independent_positions_final_summary.pdf?c=1533239722-ca646f64e3dfc09ab6fcb06e8c10dcde2ec1cbf3

Fickr Image by Robert Couse-Baker.

While you're here, check out these related links:

https://womeninscience.nih.gov/

NIH Director Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni created the NIH Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers to examine issues raised in the National Academies report and to respond to the challenges issued to government funding agencies to maximize the potential of women scientists and engineers.

https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5383

Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers. The National Science Foundation's (NSF) mission is to advance the progress of science, a mission accomplished by funding proposals for research and education made by scientists, engineers, and educators from across the country.

https://www.wpi.edu/news/calendar/events/stem-faculty-launch-workshop

Follow this link to apply for the STEM faculty launch workshop hosted by Worcester Polytechnic Institute (deadline: August 17th). 

Our Top Picks for August 2nd, 2018

⭃Alexandra King's article, "The uncomfortable question powerful women should answer," talks about the work-family question many women are often asked when they achieve success while having a family.  She applauds Lauren Groff's response of, "Until I see a male writer asked this question, I'm going to respectfully decline to answer," since it brought attention to the inherent sexism of the question itself, but also compels other powerful and successful women to answer the question, so that working moms can actually learn from them and apply the advice they have to share.

Flickr Image by 1DayReview.

⭃Nature's article, "Leaky pipeline for women dries up after they win first big grant," says that after they secure their first major research grant from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), women are almost as successful as men at netting further awards from the agency, according to an analysis published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 


⭃In an interview with Jess Wade, a postdoc in plastic electronics at London's Imperial College, she speaks about how she is encouraging women to get involved in science. In the last year, she has written over 270 Wikipedia articles on women scientists and their achievements, hoping to make women role models more tangible and relevant to the upcoming generation. She also speaks about how the initiatives to get women into STEM fields are all well and good, but the efforts and money allotted to the cause may not be being used in the most efficient ways. 

Check out the article, "Five amazing female scientists you've probably never heard of," to see how Jess Wade's efforts are already paying off.  


⭃"'When it comes to silencing women,' writes Mary Beard, 'Western culture has had thousands of years of practice.' Academe is no exception. A recent conference at Stanford University featured 30 speakers — all of them men, all of them white. The incident sparked ridicule and outrage, as well as a sense that higher education is facing a reckoning. Over the past few months, amid mounting revelations of sexual harassment, The Chronicle Review asked presidents and adjuncts, scientists and humanists, senior scholars and junior professors to take on the theme of women and power in academe." Check out Maggie Doherty's article, "The Awakening: Women and power in the Academy," to see the responses.  


⭃"Forbes has named Duke University among 'America’s Best Employers For Women,' ranking the university among 300 employers in its first list of this kind. Forbes partnered with online statistics partner Statista to survey 40,000 Americans, including 25,000 women, working for businesses with at least 1,000 employees." Check out the article "Forbes names Duke among 'Best Employers for Women' in 2018," to read more about what perks Duke employees enjoy to earn them their spot on this list.

Flickr image by Ata.

⭃Harvard Business Review published the outcome of some of their experimental research in the article, "Why Women Volunteer for Tasks that Don't Lead to Promotions," that suggests that women are more likely to volunteer for "non-promotable" tasks than men, and more likely to be asked to take these types of tasks on. They found, "women were 48% more likely to volunteer than men," and that "women received 44% more requests to volunteer than men in mixed-sex groups," in their experimental design. 


⭃"The fact that gender differences exist, in itself, is not always a problem. But problems arise when individuals are treated differently as a result of these behavioral differences." This article, "Are women penalized for being team players," talks about how behavioral differences in males and females often leads to women being more collaborative in nature, but this can be detrimental to a woman's academic career since collaborations bring less individual attention to researchers, and can often take longer to publish.