Weekly Wrap-Up

This week’s post written by Jane Zelikova

I got to spend this week imagining a not too distant future of feminist leadership in the climate movement. Surrounded by people I deeply admire, I grappled with the limits of my own imagination - what does the world look like when we fully harness feminist solutions to our biggest problems? What does feminism look like when we elevate the leadership of people who have been pushed to the margins of these movements?

Even with endless Montana big sky over my head and fresh air in my lungs, I realized I have lost my ability to dream, a skill I haven’t had much use for lately, a muscle atrophied by daily tasks, putting out immediate fires, writing another peer reviewed paper, another grant, another job application. A permission to dream is a powerful and scary thing! What does a world look like when women define the metrics of success?  What does assumption of expertise look like when its not given by default to men? Who gets to have big ideas in our society when that default is not freely ceded to men?

This week, I am stretching my imagination, I am re-awakening my dream muscles to help envision and bring about a different world. Please join me! 

WHAT WE’VE DONE

WHAT WE LIKE

READING CORNER

IN OUR EARBUDS

Don’t hesitate to send us your podcast suggestions and summer reads.

Photo by Hunter Wiseley on Unsplash

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Take Action Tuesday

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Today’s Take Action Tuesday post is brought to you by Jenna Jablonski, member of the DC Pod of 500 Women Scientists and founder of Sister.

How does your STEM identity connect with your political identity?

For National Voter Registration Day in September, Sister is partnering with Science Rising to publish a series of articles showing how individuals in STEM can be political — and that our STEM work can even shape our advocacy work.

We want to share your perspective. How does your STEM identity connect with your political identity (your advocacy work, issues you care about, etc.)? How does this tie in with your personal identity and/or journey in STEM?

If you’re interested in writing, send a pitch by this Friday (8/16) to hello@sisterstem.org. Pitches can be short descriptions of what you plan to write about, or a sample/excerpt from the proposed article. Full articles (about 700-1,000 words) will be due at the end of August. Sister happily provides editorial support along the way.

You can also spread the word by retweeting this tweet or sending anyone who may be interested to sisterstem.org/write.

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Weekly Wrap-Up

“Perhaps that's what all human relationships boil down to: Would you save my life? or would you take it? “- Toni Morrison, “Song of Solomon” 1977

This week has brought a lot of loss, some very personal and some that haunts all of us. We again mourn the people who lost their lives to domestic terrorism in the US. Since the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in 2012, there have been at least 2,179 mass shootings in the US, with at least 2,459 killed and 9,122 wounded. Mass shooting deaths, less than 2 percent of all deaths from gun violence, create shockwaves in the sea that is the US gun violence epidemic.

Meanwhile, many of our elected officials in the US hide behind empty thoughts and prayers, blame video games or mental health issues (with no evidence to back those claims), refusing to fund research to understand the causes of this epidemic and blocking efforts to institute reasonable gun laws. We deserve better, for ourselves and for all the people we have lost.

This week, we also lost Toni Morrison. There are few words that can give measure to this loss, so we invoke her words.

"I tell my students, 'When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab bag candy game."

—In the November 2003 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine

WHAT WE’VE DONE

WHAT WE LIKE

READING CORNER

IN OUR EARBUDS

Don’t hesitate to send us your podcast suggestions and summer reads.

Photo by kazuend on Unsplash

Take Action Tuesday

Today’s Take Action Tuesday post is brought to you by Jessica Duffy, a member of the 500 Women Scientists leadership team. This week, we are helping bring together experiences of disabled folks in STEMM.

Who: Disabled folks in STEMM

What: Our experience(s) in STEMM spaces for @khwalsh_ ’s disability in STEM zine

Where: Submit your story here https://t.co/o5cQ2ojrLg?amp=1

When: Today for #TakeActionTuesday

Why: Silence strengthens stigma.

(How: Anonymously, if preferred)

Abled? Not in STEMM? Amplify the invitation above! Support your disabled students and peers. Listen to our stories and figure out how to make your classroom and/or workspace more accessible and inclusive of us!

Photo by zhang kaiyv on Unsplash

Weekly Wrap-Up

With news about more mass shooting this week in the US, continued separation of families at the southern US boarder, “transhumanism”, and a gun shop in North Carolina ridiculing and targeting US Congresswomen, my week in the US was spent in a medium state of outrage. But that outrage is also fuel, so we roll up our sleeves and keep going!

WHAT WE’VE DONE

  • We are joining the global youth-led climate strikes this September.

    • Sign up our pod to join the campaign

    • Select local action(s) you will take

      • Strike or protest

      • Climate teach-ins

      • Climate storytelling events #MyClimateStory

      • Local political action

      • Write op-eds or LTEs for local media outlets

WHAT WE LIKE

READING CORNER

IN OUR EARBUDS

Don’t hesitate to send us your podcast suggestions and summer reads.

Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash

Spotlight: Women in Medicine

Women in Medicine: Opportunities in the Pharma Industry

— by Evi Abada, 500 Women Scientists and 500 Women in Medicine leadership teams

The pharmaceutical industry is a robust field with incredible opportunities open to women in medicine, interested in leveraging their skills and expertise in previously unchartered waters, including but not limited to the areas of drug discovery, medical affairs, global public health, medical safety, and research and development. One reason many decide to pursue a career in medicine is the desire to help others. And in trying to achieve that, medicines and other pharmacological products play an essential role in helping to improve the lives and wellbeing of patients.

Health care providers are at the front lines, interfacing daily with the patients for whom these products are designed for. Health care practitioners play a unique role in ensuring that pharma products serve the purposes for which they were originally created. They directly interact with patients and are uniquely positioned to determine how medicines impact the lives of patients. As health care workers, we are our patients’ advocates. The scope of our work ensures that we are allowing our patients access to the medicines and products that will do them the most good. And wouldn’t it be best for our patients if more people from the profession delve into the domain of influencing decisions that may impact drug discovery and research? And what better group of people should be at the forefront of this initiative than women in medicine?

Studies have shown the differences in the outcome of patients managed by women physicians vs. male physicians. Women in healthcare display a level of compassion, collaboration and leadership, all very critical skills that directly impact the lives of patients, but in addition can also be brought into the pharma industry to expand its current effectiveness.

Opportunities in the pharma industry may be combined with caring for patients, while we continue to work to advance their wellbeing in the areas of discovering new and competent medicines. The pharma industry will be better served by bringing a variety of voices to the table, and that diversity involves getting more women in healthcare on board.

500womenscientists, an organization committed to making science more open, inclusive and accessible is working to ensure that women scientists (including women in healthcare) get the recognition they deserve and are effectively rewarded for all their expertise and skills. And through this medium, we want more women to be aware of the incredible opportunities that the pharma industry boasts of, which they can tap in to. 

Interested in learning more about how to grow a career in pharma as a woman working in healthcare? Then, Women in Pharma Careers, a career resource by women in pharma for women in pharma, is your next best stop. Learn more about opportunities for women in medicine in the pharma industry and how to effectively combine pharma work and family life, plus everything else you need to grow and thrive in the pharma industry here. 

This is an original article of the 500 Women in Medicine, a satellite organization of 500 Women Scientists. 

Photo by Louis Reed on Unsplash

Take Action Tuesday

Join the #SciMomJourney Team in celebrating Breastfeeding!

August is breastfeeding month, and August 1-7 is World Breastfeeding week. This year’s theme is “Empower Parents. Enable Breastfeeding.” Black Breastfeeding Week starts August 25th and the theme is “The World is Yours.” 

Social and institutional support is key to enabling breastfeeding for scientist moms. No matter who you are, you can help! Advocate for parent-friendly policies, plan for accommodations at events, ask a breastfeeding coworker how she’s doing. These actions matter! 

We welcome everyone to:

  • Celebrate World Breastfeeding week!

  • Sign the Pledge to empower parents and enable breastfeeding, now and for the future! You can create an event locally to support breastfeeding. 

  • Follow Black Breastfeeding Week on Twitter and Facebook for the latest updates and events.

  • Sign up for WABA’s (World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action) email list to find out about all their events that you can participate in during the month of August. 

  • Read our op-ed in Scientific American about how to improve scientist-moms’ breastfeeding experiences- Do Science, Pump, Repeat

  • Share your SciMomJourney Story. Our survey is on-going! We would love to crunch this data and share our thoughts. We will never share your name, institution or any other information without your permission.  

If you are in a 500WS Pod, you can this sign to show your support for Breastfeeding mothers.

Weekly Wrap-Up

Happy Friday everyone. Its been a busy week for us, so lets get right to it.

WHAT WE’VE DONE

  • Who are we protecting science for? #TMTShutdown

  • Request a Women Scientist now has its own Twitter account - follow @RequestWSTEMM for updates and other cool stuff

  • We are joining the global youth-led climate strikes this September.

    • Sign up our pod to join the campaign

    • Select local action(s) you will take

      • Strike or protest

      • Climate teach-ins

      • Climate storytelling events #MyClimateStory

      • Local political action

      • Write op-eds or LTEs for local media outlets

WHAT WE LIKE

READING CORNER

IN OUR EARBUDS

Don’t hesitate to send us your podcast suggestions and summer reads.

Take Action Tuesday

Mauna Kea is a dormant volcano on the Hawaii island in the US and it is one of the best sites on the planet for astronomical observations - its high altitude, low humidity, and thin atmosphere make it ideal for observing the Universe. There are 13 telescopes at Mauna Kea today, built on land leased by the University of Hawaii from the state. This land is considered sacred by native Hawaiians. The proposed TMT -- Thirty Meter Telescope -- would be the largest optical telescope ever built in the northern hemisphere and it would be build on sacred land. 

Since the Supreme Court of Hawaii allowed construction of the TMT to proceed on Mauna Kea in October 2018, hundreds of protestors/protectors have blocked construction crews from accessing the mountain top. In response, the Governor of Hawaii declared an emergency, and 33 Native Hawaiian elders were arrested. Protestors/protectors remain at the site.

These protests have been interpreted by many as a clash of science vs. tradition. But that is a false premise and false choice. TMT is a the latest in what is essentially centuries of Western scientific progress at the expense of Native rights. Many of us in the scientific community have benefited the current Western scientific system and many of us are deeply embedded in this system today.

It is time to ask ourselves if we as scientists want to further this kind of a system, continuing and benefiting from oppression of Indigenous people, knowledge, and way of life. Many scientists and astronomers have been speaking out against the TMT and early-career scientists from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds and communities of color have been leading the charge.

Today, we ask our amazing community of scientists and supporters from across the globe to:

  • Read the open letter from astronomy graduate students

  • Read Native Hawaiian scientist Sara Kahanamoku’s article about the opportunity to change the way we do science.

  • Check out Chanda Prescod-Weinstein’s Decolonizing Science reading list.

  • Check to see if your institution a Member or Partner of TMT and ask your institution about how they will address the rights of Native Hawaiians.

  • Finally, (and especially if you are in a position of privilege), call out racism in your scientific communities. Condemning clearly racist words and tweets in a way that doesn’t negatively impact our daily lives is easy. Standing up to stop the construction of a scientific instrument that perpetuates historical injustices faced by Native communities is a lot harder to do, but equally necessary. We need to do both.

Photo by Steve Halama on Unsplash

Perfection, the Enemy of Good

Perfection, the Enemy of Good

This week on #MeetAScientist, get to know Ann Holmes, an Ecology PhD candidate at the University of California, Davis. In this interview, she chats about a collaborative workshop organized between 500 Women Scientists and Inspiring Girls Now in Technology Evolution, her path into science, and unattainable standards of perfection. You can follow her on Twitter @planktonherder.

Weekly Wrap-Up

Happy Friday! This week has had some real lows (#RacistTrump, Suzanne Eaton news, #TMTShutdown), but we must remember that joy is a revolutionary act and the fuel for our activism. Lets get into the joy and don’t forget to send us your great summer reads.

WHAT WE’VE DONE

  • Got a High Five from Oprah

  • Pointed out that the gender gap and discrimination in STEM is oversimplified and not representative of the range of gender and other identities

  • Posted application details for the #Fellowship4theFuture

WHAT WE LIKE

READING CORNER

IN OUR EARBUDS

Photo by Valentin on Unsplash

Take Action Tuesday

Today we call on our science community and supporters to donate to #Fellowship4TheFuture to support women of color who are working hard to make science more diverse, inclusive, equitable, with an abundance of social justice too! 

For those of you who may not have the funds to donate, or want to do a little more for this amazing cause, please consider tweeting @YOURUniversities, current or alumnus, asking Deans at your university to donate too! The Dean of Science at Columbia University @PdeMenocal was the first Dean to stand up and with #FellowshipForTheFuture and we would love to see more Deans make that pledge!

Help us be the change we want to see in our own science community.

#FundTheFuture


Weekly Wrap-Up

Happy summer everyone! Jane Zelikova here - I am going to be doing the weekly wrap-up posts for the next few weeks. Since its summer in the northern hemisphere, I’m adding a Reading Corner, highlighting things that are on the 500 Women Scientists leadership team’s summer reading list. If you have suggestions for great summer reads, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

WHAT WE’VE DONE

WHAT WE LIKE

READING CORNER

Photo by Vikram TKV on Unsplash

Take Action Tuesday

Today, we call on the science community to reach out to their elected US Senators to oppose the nomination of Barry Myers as head of NOAA.

Barry Myers has a track record of disregarding widespread sexual harassment allegations in his company AccuWeather. He has no science background. And he has spent decades attacking NOAA, the very agency he would be tasked with overseeing. He is unfit, he is morally corrupt, and he should not be confirmed.

All senators should be contacted but there are a handful of senators who should be especially targeted to oppose Barry Myers’ nomination, If you live in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Arizona, or Maine, tell your Senators to not confirm Barry Myers.

Alaska: Senator Lisa Murkowski - list of local offices and phone numbers.

Arizona: Martha McSally

Colorado: Senator Cory Gardner - list of local offices and phone numbers.

Maine: Senator Susan Collins - list of local offices and phone numbers.

Photo by Gemma Evans on Unsplash

Today’s post by Jane Zelikova

 

500 Women Scientists is on its way to becoming a powerful organization representing the voices of tens of thousands of women scientists all over the globe. With your gift we can pay for the vital infrastructure we need. Plus, your donations help keep 500WS resources free and open, one less barrier to women in science.