[Taxacom] Gender equality in science

Tue Jun 5 09:52:14 CDT 2018

I applaud these efforts to create a more gender-equitable world.

Gender discrimination has a long and shameful history.  I have experienced
it at two different institutions.  In one case, the committee screening
candidates was all set to exclude a young women who, according to them, had
pumped up her c.v. by including several publications that were not her
own.  Seems she had used her maiden name early on, then switched to her
married name later.

In a second example (and this occurred at a women's college), a top
candidate (female) was excluded because several males were convinced that
her husband would not consider a move that would change his employment
options.  This excuse was brought up in several searches and it was
difficult for to convince them that this was not an appropriate search
criterion.

Gender discrimination remains a significant problem in academe as well as
other human endeavors (see today's news reports about the CEO of Qatar
Airlines arguing that a woman could not deal with the challenges of such a
position).  Pay attention to an individual's professional qualifications
and ignore gender difference.  In the US, this is required under Equal
Opportunity Employment guidelines.

Cheers,

Dick J

On Mon, Jun 4, 2018 at 10:02 PM, Kristina LEMSON <k.lemson at ecu.edu.au>
wrote:

> Thankyou for your contribution Rob.
>
> I think Stephen has missed the point. If a selection panel is faced with
> two people equally qualified and ranked equally according to the selection
> criteria, there is a decision to be made. Historically and  to this day
> (yes, I have seen it in action myself) the research shows that if it is
> between a man and a woman at this point, the guy will get the job. Gender
> equity is about excavating the underlying reasons why (and they have been
> well documented many many times) and making sure that sexism is not the
> deciding factor at this point. Sexism also shows up as e.g. canny ways of
> defining ‘competence’, ‘performance’ and ‘ability’.
>
>  The devil of discrimination of any kind lies in the small decisions that
> happen every day in the lived experience of people. And yes, women in
> taxonomy do have those lived experiences, regardless of whether others wish
> to validate them or not.
>
> To tweak one of my favourite quotes
> “ privilege doesn’t mean your life hasn’t been hard...it does mean that
> (gender) is not one of the things making it harder”.
>
> Kristina
>
> Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef>
> ________________________________
> From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> on behalf of Rob
> Smissen <SmissenR at landcareresearch.co.nz>
> Sent: Monday, June 4, 2018 6:13:47 PM
> To: Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> Subject: [Taxacom] Gender equality in science
>
> Esteemed colleagues
>
> It seems timely to raise again the words Doug Soltis spoke at the last IBC
> to which all present affirmed or were silent. I draw attention to two
> phrases, "actively work for gender equality", and "unconscious bias".
>
> best wishes
>
> Rob
>
>
> Resolution 2 (Gender equity): The XIX International Botanical Congress in
> Shenzhen, China resolves to work actively for gender equity in the plant
> sciences: to facilitate equal opportunities for entry, participation and
> advancement in the field; to create environments where men and women work
> together with equal recognition; and where each person, regardless of
> gender, strives to create opportunities in an equitable way, avoiding both
> conscious and unconscious bias in decision-making processes. Resolution 3
> (IAPT-China Office): The XIX International
>
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-- 
Richard Jensen, Professor Emeritus
Department of Biology
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556