The XX Files: Increasing the Visibility of Women in Academia & Science

Sandra K. Masur, PhDProfessor, Department of Ophthalmology

Mount Sinai School of MedicineAssociate Dean, Faculty Development

President, Women Faculty Group

Medical College of WisconsinOctober 2006

Making Us Visible

Are there “enough” women scientists?

Why does it feel like an up-hill battle to be a successful woman scientist?

How can scientific organizations and leaders help?

What have we done at WICB?

Making Us Visible

Are there “enough” women scientists?

Why does it feel like an up-hill battle to be a successful woman scientist?

How can scientific organizations and leaders help?

What have we done at WICB?

Pipeline data

Woman scientists earning PhDs* 45% in Biological Sciences 25% in Physical Sciences

Women MDs** 41% residents and fellows

26% of all physicians

*2001-2003 in top 50 departments for their fields as ranked by NSF(Science 2005 309: 1190-1191)

**AAMC 2005 data

Science 2005 309: 1190-1191

But it’sa very leaky pipeline

U.S. Medical School Faculty by Gender and Rank

AAMC Faculty Roster, May 2005

AAMC Benchmarking report 2005

To deal with leaky pipeline:

Explicit encouragement (mentoring) for outstanding doctoral candidates to enter the professoriate could help close the gap.

Science 2005 309: 1190-1191; Current Biology 2001 11:42R

Making Us Visible

Are there “enough” women scientists?

Why does it feel like an up-hill battle to be a successful woman scientist?

How can scientific organizations and leaders help?

What have we done at WICB?

“Science is a form of competitive and aggressive activity, a contest of man against man that provides knowledge as a side product. That side product is its only advantage over football.”*

*Richard Lewontin, MIT evolutionary geneticist, in 1980 among papers commenting on James Watson’s book, “The Double Helix”.

The Culture of Science

Our Up-Hill Battle

•We don’t look “right”. We lack “beards”.

•We don’t speak up in an aggressive way

but rather we ask short questions or

we don’t speak.

•We don’t do mathematically based studies.

•We are too aggressive.

•We are too feminine.

•We are not professors in the most

prestigious institutions.

Our Up-Hill Battle

•We don’t look “right”. We lack “beards”.

•We don’t speak up in an aggressive way

but rather we ask short questions or

we don’t speak.

•We don’t do mathematically based studies.

•We are too aggressive.

•We are too feminine.

•We are not professors in the most

prestigious institutions.

•Gender Schemas work against us

GENDER SCHEMAS:

A set of implicit, or nonconscious, hypotheses (held by both men & women) about sex differences that play a central role in shaping women and men’s professional lives.

The most important consequence of gender schemas for professional life is that men are consistently over-rated, while women are under-rated.

From “Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women. Virginia Valian”

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Trix & Psenka (2003) Discourse and Society 14: 191.

Letters of Recommendation for Female & Male Medical Faculty: Different Emphasis

GENDER SCHEMAS: : a set of implicit, or nonconscious, hypotheses (held by both men & women) about sex differences plays a central role in shaping women and men’s professional lives. The most important consequence for professional life is that men are consistently over rated, while women are under rated.

ACCUMULATION OF ADVANTAGE & DISADVANTAGE Whatever emphasizes a man’s gender gives him a small advantage, a plus, whereas whatever emphasizes a woman’s gender results in a small loss for her, a minus.

Very small differences add up and result in large disparities in salary, promotion and prestigeWhy So Slow? The Advancement of Women. Virginia Valian

Fighting the Up-Hill battle: What can you do to counteract

Gender Schemas ?

Overcome possible “internal barriers” to effectiveness – achievement is time-consuming and women need more to accumulate advantage.

Become an expert – become highly knowledgeable and convey that information in a friendly fashion.

Get endorsed by legitimate authority – not only by people,but by where you publish, study section service.

Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women. Virginia Valian

Up-Hill Battle (cont’d)Find mentors and collaborators.

Negotiate, bargain, seek advancement – you don’t get what you don’t ask for.

Challenge implicit hypotheses (switch the sexes).

Increase the number of women in a Candidate Pool –when 25% of the group are women, they will be more fairly judged. Switches the perception of a job from male – to human - job*.

Increase the number of women in a Evaluator Pool.

*Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women. Virginia Valian

Making Us Visible

Are there “enough” women scientists?

Why does it feel like an up-hill battle to be a successful woman scientist?

How can scientific organizations and leaders help?

What have we done at WICB?

How do Women Fare in Four Scientific Societies?

ASCB American Society for Cell Biology (1960)

ASN American Society of Nephrology (1967)

ARVO Association for Research in Vision & Ophthalmology (1928)

ASBMR American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (1977)

Making Us Visible

Are there “enough” women scientists?

Why does it feel like an up-hill battle to be a successful woman scientist?

How can scientific organizations and leaders help?

What have we done at WICB?

The Impact of Committed Leaders – leaders have a disproportionate impact on organizations because of their status as authorities.

1) establish and publicize policies to increase fairness,

2) legitimize and support the leadership of both women & men.

Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women. Virginia Valian

ROLE OF LEADERSHIP

Arthur Rubenstein - Dean, MSSM (Dean, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

and EVP)

John Stobo – Chairman of Medicine at Hopkins(President, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston)

Endowed Chairs at MSSM

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Pre-AHR AHR Dean

% w

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Impact of a Leader (1) Dean Arthur H. Rubenstein

1998-20011987-1997

Conferred at annual Academic Convocation

**

Impact of a Leader (2)

Chairman of Medicine, John Stobo, MD Johns Hopkins Medical School - 1990 (Emma Stokes, consultant)

•Women faculty earned less than men and advanced more slowly. •Appointed a committee to evaluate situation and develop ways to deal with gender-based problems.

Stobo’s Committee found•Women were coming up for promotion later than men because evaluators failed to identify qualified women. E.g., junior men faculty were asked to chair confs 6X more frequently than junior women faculty.

•Women didn’t know the criteria for promotion.

LEADERSHIP (2) concluded

Dr. Stobo’s initiatives included:•Annual faculty evaluations with explicit info re progress.•Monthly meetings with concrete mentoring for moving up in career. •Senior faculty were given explicit info on how to mentor.•Important meetings moved from outside normal hrs.

LEADERSHIP (2) concluded

Dr. Stobo’s initiatives included:•Annual faculty evaluations with explicit info re progress.•Monthly meetings with concrete mentoring for moving up in career. •Senior faculty were given explicit info on how to mentor.•Important meetings moved from outside normal hrs.

Impact on the Dept of Medicine •1990 there were 6 women Assoc Profs

•1995 there were 26 women Assoc Profs.

W I S E L IWomen in Science & Engineering Leadership InstituteUniversity of Wisconsin-Madisonwiseli.engr.wisc.edu/Products/top_10_tips.pdf

ADVICE TO THE TOP

Top 10 Tips for Academic Leaders to Accelerate the Advancement of Women in

Science and Engineering

1. LEARN ABOUT OUTSTANDING WOMEN ON YOUR CAMPUS

2. LEARN FROM THE LOCAL EXPERTS ABOUT GENDER ISSUES

3. REVIEW CAMPUS DATA ON EQUITY

4. STUDY WORK/LIFE ISSUES

5. MAKE GENDER ISSUES VISIBLE

Making Us Visible

Are there “enough” women scientists?

Why does it feel like an up-hill battle to be a successful woman scientist?

How can scientific organizations and leaders help?

What have we done at WICB?

“The major objective of the Women in Cell Biology Committee (WICB) is to provide opportunities and information useful to women in developing their careers in cell biology. The WICB Committee also provides career development advice of value to all basic biomedical scientists.”

WOMEN IN CELL BIOLOGY(established in 1971)

Ursula GoodenoughWashington University

WICB chair (ASCB Pres 1995)

Inke NathkeJr WICB Award 2004University of Dundee

Harvey LodishMIT

Zena WerbUCSF

ASCB President 2005(former WICB chair)

WICB

• Website• Publications: columns and books

• Speaker Referral Service• Annual Meeting Events

WICB

• Website• Publications: columns and books

• Speaker Referral Service• Annual Meeting Events

WICB

• Website• Publications: columns and books

• Speaker Referral Service• Annual Meeting Events

Downloadable

WICB

• Website• Publications: column and books

• Speaker Referral Service• Annual Meeting Events

WICB’s New Speaker Referral Service website: indicates we have an extensive network of individuals familiar with women speakers in all fields of cell biology.

The visitor is directed to •send an e-mail to WICB@e-mail.com describing

the conference/symposium for which they need

a speaker, •attaching more information if available, •within 24 hours they will receive a

response.

•WICB members will receive the forwarded

request from ASCB staff for follow-up.

http://ascb.org/committees/wicb

http://www.aai.org/committees/women/aai_wom.html

WICB Annual Meeting Events

• Careers in Cell Biology Lunch• Evening Program• Saturday Workshop• Junior and Senior Awards

WICB Annual Meeting Events

• Careers in Cell Biology Lunch• Evening Program• Saturday Workshop• Junior and Senior Awards

2005 WICB Careers in Cell Biology Lunch Table Topics

http://www.ascb.org/meetings/am2005/lunchtopics05.htm

A. BIOTECH & PHARMACEUTICAL Opportunities conducting and managing research in the life sciences industry. How does it differ from academic research? What kind of organization is right for you? B. MANAGEMENT CONSULTING & VENTURE CAPITAL Opportunities for biologists with companies that advise biotech and pharma on strategy and management issues. Opportunities working with firms evaluating new technologies and life science companies. C. PATENT LAW/INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Opportunities for cell biologists to pursue the legal aspects of science. How does patent law differ from intellectual property? Do you need a PhD? Do you need a law degree? D. SCIENTIFIC WRITING Opportunities in scientific writing in a newspaper/magazine/radio. How are these positions identified and what do they entail? E. SCIENTIFIC EDITING Opportunities in scientific publishing (e.g. handling manuscripts; journal management) or in the general press (e.g. science editor in a publishing house). How are these positions identified and what do they entail?

WICB Careers in Cell Biology Lunch Table Topics

http://www.ascb.org/meetings/am2005/lunchtopics05.htm

F. CAREERS IN COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY G. WORKING WITH CONGRESS & FEDERAL GOVERNMENT H. WORKING IN SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATIONS & FUNDING AGENCIES I. RESEARCH IN GOVERNMENT LABORATORIES J. TEACHING AND RESEARCH IN PRIMARILY UNDERGRADUATE

INSTITUTIONS K. DEVELOPING YOUR CAREER L. OBTAINING AN APPROPRIATE POSTDOC POSITION M. JOB APPLICATION STRATEGIES FOR ACADEMIC POSITIONS N. DEVELOPING YOUR ADMINISTRATIVE TECHNIQUES/MANAGEMENT

SKILLS

WICB Careers in Cell Biology Lunch Table Topics

http://www.ascb.org/meetings/am2005/lunchtopics05.htm

O. COLLABORATIONS AND AUTHORSHIP P. FAMILY AND CAREER ISSUES Q. MENTORING AND BEING MENTORED R. FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR RESEARCH AT PRIMARILY

UNDERGRADUATE INSTITUTIONS S. MID-CAREER TRANSITIONS T. SETTING UP YOUR FIRST LABORATORY U. ETHICS AND THE POLITICS OF SCIENCE V. ISSUES FOR WOMEN IN SCIENCE W. GAY AND LESBIAN ISSUES IN SCIENCE X. FOR UNDERGRADUATES: WHAT COMES NEXT? Y. ISSUES FOR INTERNATIONAL SCIENTISTS IN THE U.S.

WICB Annual Meeting Events

• Careers in Cell Biology Lunch• Evening Program• Saturday Workshop• Junior and Senior Awards

WICB Evening Program Topics (1983-2005)

The Imposter Syndrome (2005)

Becoming Visible: Eff ective Self Promotion

Publication Follies: Pleasures and Perils on the Career Trail

Advancement in Your Career: How to Negotiate in Your J ob Hunts and Howto Negotiate Promotion

Dealing with Diffi cult People and Situations

Unwritten Rules

Negotiating Strategies

Your Students’ Career Choices: Mentoring Young Scientists into the 21stCentury

Couples in Cell Biology

Are there REALLY Any Obstacles Left for Women in Science?

Career Is sues in Cell Biology

WICB Evening Program Topics (1983-2005)

Beyond Survival: A Women's Professional Problem Solving Group

Navigating Rocky Shoals: Personality Stereotypes in Scientific Professions

The Politics of Publishing

Visibility of Women in Science

An I nside View of Grantsmanship

Criteria for Successful Careers

Dual Career Families

A talk about the funding situation

The Development of Self Esteem and Self Acceptance in Women

Perspectives of Three Women Cell Biologists

The author discusses her book Women in Science-Portraits f rom a World inTransition

Presentations by Six Women at Various Points in their Careers

WICB Annual Meeting Events

• Careers in Cell Biology Lunch• Evening Program• Saturday Workshop• Junior and Senior Awards

WICB Saturday Workshops(Role playing exercises)

2005From Conflict to Confidence:Negotiating Day-to-Day Conflicts

2004 Managing Difficult People and Difficult Situations

"From Conflict to Confidence:Negotiating Day-to-Day Conflicts"Saturday, December 10, 2005 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Conflict is a part of life, not always a pleasant part, but sure proof that thinking, personalities, and passions are at work. In all creative organizations, conflict is part of the work. Disagreements about outcomes and processes are part of the scientific method-add personalities and passion to that and you have quite a mix! Conflicts are painful, eat lots of precious time and energy, and often leave us feeling like we are inept! This workshop is not about taking away conflict: It is about seeing it as one more piece of scientific work, of life, to be managed and about seeing ourselves as developing competencies in an area that likely was not why we entered the field. It is about using the day-to-day negotiation of conflicts to build confidence and competence in ourselves and in our careers as scientists.

WICB Saturday Workshop

WICB Annual Meeting Events

• Careers in Cell Biology Lunch• Evening Program• Saturday Workshop• Junior and Senior Awards

WICB JUNIOR AND SENIOR AWARDS

The WICB Committee recognizes outstanding achievements in cell biology by presenting two Career Recognition Awards at the ASCB

Annual Meeting.

WICB JUNIOR AWARD

•a woman in an early stage of her career (generally seven or eight years in an independent position)

•who has made exceptional scientific contributions to cell biology

•and exhibits the potential for continuing a high level of scientific endeavor

•while fostering the career development of young scientists.

WICB SENIOR AWARD

• a woman or man in a later career stage (generally full professor or equivalent)

• whose outstanding scientific achievements are coupled with a long-standing record of support for women in science

• and by mentorship of both men and women in scientific careers.

Candidate Packages should include:Junior Award, •a letter of nomination, •CV of the candidate, •no more than three letters of support, •at least one must be from outside the nominee's institution

Senior Award, •a letter of nomination, •CV of the candidate, •no more than five letters of support,• at least one of which must come from outside the nominee's institution, •two letters from those who have been mentored by the candidate with specifics

WICB Career Recognition Junior and Senior Awardees

Senior Junior2005 Elizabeth Blackburn * Rebecca Heald *2004 Susan Lindquist Inke Nathke2003 Philip Stahl Claire Walczak2002 Natasha Raikhel Clare Waterman-Storer *2001 Joan Brugge Laura Machesky2000 Shirley Tilghman Linda Hicke1999 Ursula Goodenough Yixian Zheng1998 Christine Guthrie Daphne Preuss1997 Elaine Fuchs Lorraine Pillus1996 Sarah C. R. Elgin Susan L. Forsburg1995 Virginia Zakian Trina Schroer1994 Ann Hubbard Julie Theriot *

==================================1986 Mary Clutter Mary Beckerle* ASCB

president 2006

So two last examples:ONE:

In 1988, Shirley Tilghman (now Princeton

University president) organized a Molecular Genetics Gordon Conference. About 33 % of the speakers and 45 % of the participants were women.

In 1990, the organizing committee for the same conference was all-male. 2% of the speakers were women.

TWO:NIH Pioneer Awards Five-Year, $2.5 Million Grants Support Highly Innovative Research

In 2004, all awards went to white men (10 out of 10). 61 out of the 64 judges were men.

There were eloquent and cogent protests from outstanding members of the scientific community.

TWO:NIH Pioneer Awards Five-Year, $2.5 Million Grants Support Highly Innovative Research

In 2004, all awards went to white men (10 out of 10). 61 out of the 64 judges were men.

There were eloquent and cogent protests from outstanding members of the scientific community.

In response, the new judges are a highly diverse group, the candidates can self-nominate and the guidelines are publicized. In 2005 Awards went to 6 women and 7 men, including an African American man.In 2006, 5 women, and 8 men including 2 African American men and 3 Asian men.

Our organizations and the women and men who are scientific leaders can enhance the advancement of women and minority scientists by•mentoring them and •openly promoting them.

And thus increase diversity in academia and science

Acknowledgements:

Colleagues in the WICB committee (see website)

WICB monthly columns and downloadable books

“Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women.” Virginia

Valian

“Has Feminism Changed Science?” Londa Schiebinger

“Door in the Dream.” Elga Wasserman“Ms. Mentor’s Impeccable Advice for Women in Academia.” Emily Toth

“Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide.”

Linda Babcock, Sara Laschever

“Does Gender Matter? Ben A. Barres. Nature (Commentary)

Vol 443,

13 July 2006, pp.133-136

Susan Forsburg’s Women in Biology Internet Launch Pageshttp://www-rcf.usc.edu/~forsburg/bio.html#index

http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~forsburg/bio.html#index

Susan Forsburg’s Women in Biology Internet Launch Pages

• starting point for finding information for

biologists who happen to be women.

• bookmarks to the ample original content

already available on the web.

• links aimed towards women who are graduate

students, postdocs, or more senior scientists,

• sites relevant to undergrads or HS students

contemplating a career in biology.