Take Action Tuesday

Promoting Inclusive Scientific Meetings

Science benefits from diverse voices. Conference panels are no different. Panels that do not represent the true diversity of gender, race and ethnicity within science miss out on important findings and perspectives. They also contribute to problems with visibility and promotion for women and minority scientists. As we point out in our PLOS Biology paper, published last week, we are tired of “seeing all men panels (“manels”) and women’s scientific expertise often excluded in the public realm.” So, what can you do about it?

1. Be the change

   • Last month we launched our Inclusive Scientific Meetings guide. Use it to plan your next meeting.

   • Sign-up to be a resource on the 500 Women Scientists Request a Scientist platform. The “Request a Scientist” platform connects anyone looking for an expert woman in science for a conference speaker, research collaborator, to interview and more. This week  

2. Promote change

   • Organize a 500WS conference meet-up at your next scientific conference and help guide your scientific society to make the necessary changes.

   • Sign a petition for equitable scientific meetings

3. Raise awareness about issues of representation at meetings:

   • Submit the gender representation of a conference you’ve attended to a site like BiasWatchNeuro: A group devoted to tracking the speaker composition of conferences in neuroscience, particularly with respect to gender representation.

   • Post a picture to Congrats, you have an all male panel: A blog designed to draw attention to all-male panels at meetings.

This post was written by Kate Gerull of 500 Women in Medicine.

Photo by Lachlan Gowen on Unsplash