Our Top Picks For September 13th 2017

⭃Our culturally ingrained perceptions of STEM individuals indeed play a role in our professional decisions, as we act to reinforce stereotypical roles and maintain homogeneity in working environments. While those of us in STEM would like to presume that we judge each other solely on scientific merit, data suggest that we reflect our unconscious biases around gender and race in our assessments of ourselves and others. This Neuron article, "Advancing Science: How Bias Holds Us Back," talks about how bias in STEM fields is creating a less diverse environment, and how that can affect the quality of science, and its discoveries. 

Flickr Image form Queen's University. 

⭃"Taking a confident leap into uncertainty," is Melina Schuh's own account of her progression through the ranks of scientist to group leader at the Medical Research Council Laboratory at Cambridge, and on to Director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Germany. She talks about how she decided to apply for the positions that she did, and how she knew that starting a family wasn't something she could put off while trying to wait for the elusive perfect time. 

Flickr Image from Hagerstown Community College. 

⭃"What fewer women in STEM means for their mental health," says, "the reality is that STEM professions are most commonly male and it remains surprising when these professional roles are held by women. The large gender imbalance means that women may naturally feel they’re outsiders at school and at work. This situation is often uncomfortable and mentally demanding, when even just showing up and doing your job comes with constant social stresses and anxiety. Ironically, the difficulties that they (we) encounter often dissuade the next generation of women from joining us. It’s a self-reinforcing cycle that we need to break."


⭃Working conditions in academic labs encourage abusive supervision. It is time to improve monitoring of and penalties for abuse, says Sherry Moss. Check out this Nature article, "Research is set up for bullies to thrive."

Flickr Image from Hagerstown Community College. 

⭃The article, "Gender and international diversity improves equity in peer review," hooks you in immediately with the opening of their abstract, which reads: "The robustness of scholarly peer review has been challenged by evidence of disparities in publication outcomes based on author's gender and nationality. To address this, we examine the peer review outcomes of 23,873 initial submissions and 7,192 full submissions that were submitted to the biosciences journal eLife between 2012 and 2017. Women and authors from nations outside of North America and Europe were underrepresented both as gatekeepers (editors and peer reviewers) and last authors. We found a homophilic interaction between the demographics of the gatekeepers and authors in determining the outcome of peer review; that is, gatekeepers favor manuscripts from authors of the same gender and from the same country."

⭃Gender discrimination in the workplace remains rife, with many young women experiencing sexual harassment, job insecurity and low pay compared with male peers, a survey has found. Almost a quarter (23%) of females aged between 16 and 30 have been sexually harassed at work but only 8% have reported it, according to the poll for the Young Women’s Trust. See the troubles women in England, Wales, and all over the the Guardian's post, "Workplace gender discrimination remains rife, survey finds" and how people are reacting to this information. A Government Equalities Office spokesman said: “This government is committed to tackling burning injustices, including closing the gender pay gap and sexual harassment in the workplace."

Check out this event: 

In the past year, the worlds of medicine and science have been part of a broad reckoning about the obstacles that can block women from advancing and feeling comfortable in the workplace. Universities, hospitals, and life sciences companies are launching and expanding gender diversity initiatives, but what’s really moving the needle?

As part of Boston’s Hubweek, STAT’s Rebecca Robbins will lead a conversation about what’s changing — and what’s not — in laboratories, executive suites, and boardrooms. Coffee and snacks will be provided. Register below to reserve a seat.

Location
The Broad Institute
415 Main Street
Cambridge, MA 02142

Date & TimeTuesday, October 9th
10:00 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
Doors open at 9:30 a.m.

Register here!