[Taxacom] Gender equality in science

Tue Jun 5 10:34:53 CDT 2018

While I agree with all that has been said on the matter, I would like also
to point out the following:

Most of this kind of discussion is focused on the negative examples. Of
course this is important to do. It is paramount to identify all
discrimination in the work environment and try to fix it, and all these
examples help to do so. However, they often cause conflicts.

I feel that everyone would benefit if these negative examples are
accompanied by positive ones as well.

For example, in my home institutional organization, CONICET in Argentina,
over the last decades we have experienced an enormous growth of the number
of researchers and we reached a 52% women and 48% men (or so, I do not
remember the numbers exactly) composition. All committees are composed of
both men and women, but not with this strict 50-50 distinction. There are
cases that women represent the majority in decision-making committees.
Still, there is more to be done for more equity in the top level
researchers, heads of institutions etc, but this also has to do with time.
To reach these top positions you need to have a long career through the
system, but I have no doubt that in the next decade women that reach the
top level research positions will also, naturally, occupy more leading
positions in science institutions.

Of course, as in any work environment, both women and men continue to be
harassed (a bit or a lot doesn't matter) in one way or the other, but this
mainly comes as the result of the personal behaviors of people that cannot
express themselves without using any discriminating factor, may that be
color, gender, appearance, you name it.

In my opinion, these despicable individual actions of discrimination from a
specific target to a specific receiver, should not be confused with cases
where there is a broader, systemic, gender discrimination. Identifying that
could help towards its solution.

Pay attention to an individual's professional qualifications
> and ignore gender difference.

Sounds nice, but one might ask: in given society are men more able to
achieve professional qualifications than women, at the same time and
applying for the same position? If there is a kind of advantage that tip
the scale, all other things equal, then merely looking at the
qualifications might not be enough. For example, in Argentina (and I am
sure in other countries as well) there are age limits to apply for a given
position; women are allowed 2-3 years more than men, to compensate for the
time of pregnancy, birth and of course for the first years of the life of
the baby that requires more attention.

If you do not have any of these mechanisms you might end up with cases
where everything appears, on paper, equal but in reality is not.

All the best,

Evan

On Tue, 5 Jun 2018 at 11:52, Richard Jensen <rjensen at saintmarys.edu> wrote:

> 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
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