Friday, November 23, 2018

Our Picks for November 23, 2018

Hope everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving break!

We've got some interesting articles this week!

First, we have a New York Times article discussing how the science field is not immune from issues of harassment. In an effort to combat this issue, the director of the National Science Foundation, Dr. France Cordova implemented a condition to institutions who accept NFS grants. Now, institutions who accept NSF grants must disclose any finding related to harassment on the part of the scientists working under the grant, or risk losing funding. Read on about this critical step and more in promoting the representation of women in science!

This article describes how a paper from Princeton University found that having women as chairs of departments helps to improve gender diversity and equity. This finding lends further evidence to the idea that "managers from different backgrounds often take different approaches, highlighting the value of diversity among decision-makers."

While this next article is from 2013, and can be a candidate for "Flashback Friday," I'm sure we can all relate to its contents! Yes, we are scientists! Yes we are women! Why must our marital status or number of children be brought up? Cue the Finkbeiner Test! Or, 7 ways to avoid gratuitous gender profiles of female scientists!

Dr. David Smith tackles the differential perceptions of parenting and calls for "Family-Friendly Science." Smith goes on to describe any kind of leave related to childcare taken by subscribers of a particular Chemistry society was comprised of 95% women and 5% men. While women are frowned upon for not being the primary caregiver, men are often lauded as super dads for doing any kind of parenting.

Related to the previous article, this Opinion piece in The Guardian suggests that fathers ought to take home economics classes in order to be better prepared for helping out at home.

Have a great weekend everybody!

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