SOURCE: The UT Southwestern Medical Center Women in Science and Medicine Advisory Committee (WISMAC) 12.1.2010
Twelve Percent of Biotech Startup Founders are Women New research shows that 12% of biotech founders are female, compared to 8% of all startups and 1% of high-tech startups. Why are women better represented in biological science startups than other startup sectors? The debate rages, but it is highly likely that it has something to do with the fact that 50% of recent life sciences PhD graduates were given to women, compared to 20% in engineering and 27% in computer science. Furthermore, many women may benefit from biotech's less hierarchical, team-based structure and the lack of "old boys' club" dynamics. While 12% still represents only a small fraction of biotech startups, women-owned and women-run firms are a fast-growing sector. [from AWIS Washington Wire, Oct. 2010 Issue II] Women and biotech startups
More Moms Make it to the Top of the Corporate Ladder The long held idea that women must choose between climbing the corporate ladder and having a family is constantly being challenged and one needs to look no further than the 11 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies who are also moms to see it. While this number is still small, the chance of becoming both a CEO and a mom are greater now than ever before. Women who have made it to the top, cite making concessions, having a supportive spouse, and flexibility as some of the key features that helped them get where there are today. They also point out how sometimes their viewpoint as a mother has helped them improve things in their work place. [from AWIS Washington Wire, Oct. 2010 Issue II] Corner office moms
Gender Gap Report Rates Equality The World Economic Forum this week released its 2010 Global Gender Gap Report which points to enduring gaps in women's economic power worldwide. While education and health have improved, they still lag behind their male counterparts in economic and political authority. The good news: The United States (19) closed its gender gap, rising 12 places to enter the top 20 for the first time in the report's five-year history. [from AWIS Washington Wire Oct. 2010, Issue 1] Closing the gap
Large Study Shows Females the Equal of Males in Math Skills UC Berkeley research team is again offering evidence that genders have equal abilities in math. While the findings were not that surprising to educational researchers, researchers found different perceptions among teachers and parents. [from AWIS Washington Wire Oct. 2010, Issue 1] Reducing stereotypes and self-fulfilling prophecies
Barriers of Female Scientists In June 2010, L’Oréal USA commissioned a national survey of U.S. scientists in partnership with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) "to better understand the barriers that female scientists experience in their pursuit of scientific careers." Survey respondents included male and female scientists who hold doctoral degrees and are registered users of Science online. Survey "questions focused on the barriers that scientists face when beginning and advancing their professional careers, the extent to which the barriers affect females and males differently, and solutions to overcome these obstacles." A summary of the survey results have been posted on-line. [from GWIMS-AAMC email 10/1/2010]
http://www2.lorealusa.com/en/us/FWIS2007/downloads/survey fact sheet 9 8 2010.pdf
Gender Segregation in Science AAUW Senior Researcher Andresse St. Rose discusses the relationship between gender segregation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and the gender pay gap among college-educated men and women in the most recent edition of On Campus with Women, a publication of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. [from AAUW Mission & Action eBulletin, Sep. 16, 2010]
A Gender-based Analysis of Work Patterns, Fatigue, and Work/Life Balance Among Physicians in Postgraduate Training is an article in the September, 2010 issue of Academic Medicine
Recent limitations on duty hours are insufficient to manage fatigue risk and enable the maintenance of a healthy work/life balance of doctors in postgraduate training. [September, 2010]
Dad, Version 2.0 A new generation of scientist-fathers is emerging. Increasing numbers of fathers are becoming involved in the day-to-day child rearing activities that have consumed working mothers for years. Scientists like Chad Nusbaum, co-director of the Genome Sequencing and Analysis program at the Broad Institute of Harvard and M.I.T., chose to take two months away from work to bond with his newborn son while his wife, a tenured professor at Brandeis University, went back to work. With increasing numbers of men taking advantage of this time for family actively involved fathers may soon become a common feature of the modern family rather than a rare phenomenon. More than breadwinners [from AWIS Washington Wire, August 2010, Issue I]
Women CEOs Shatter Glass Ceiling in Chemical Industry The public image of two major chemical companies had a face lift when Ellen J. Kullman of DuPont and Lynn L. Elsenhans of Sunoco took the helm as CEOs of their respective companies. Until 2009 there were always women executives at chemical companies but never as CEO. Low job satisfaction has led to job-jumping for many women, and company hopping can become a major barrier to women when trying to rise through the ranks. The chemical industry lags behind other corporations in terms of the number of women managers. In order to retain women managers need to ask women what they need. In other words, it's not just about shattering the glass ceiling, but we need to send-down a ladder for those who follow. Chemical industry gets face lift [from AWIS Washington Wire, August 2010, Issue I]
New Survey Finds Widespread Gender Inequity, Despite Support of Equity A 22-nation survey conducted by the Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project recently found that while global support for gender equality is high, gender inequalities still exist in many countries. The survey found that despite a general agreement that women and men should have equal rights, many worldwide believe that men should be given preference when it comes to jobs and higher education, and that life is generally better for men than it is for women. [From AWIS Washington Wire, July 2010, Issue I] Equal but separate
Offering the "Luxury" of Paid Maternity Leave Companies are trying to cut costs as much as they can due to the state of the current economy. Some consider maternity leave a "luxury" which may be next on the chopping block. According to the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, employees are allowed up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave, to care for a child. Companies with fewer than 50 employees are not required to abide by this act. In fact, about 12% companies with fewer than 100 employees offer paid maternity leave and many are planning to reduce or eliminate this benefit. There are, however, some companies which are creating their own trends and betting on the idea that good parental leave benefits are consistent with retaining and attracting good employees. [From AWIS Washington Wire, July 2010, Issue I] Good benefits
AAAS Report: How Local Networks Can Boost S&T Diversity Modeled after the extension services approach pioneered by the US Department of Agriculture, which links farmers to agricultural researchers, the new AAAS (Am. Assoc, for Advancement of Science) report details how local networks of experts can help bring more women and minorities in to S&T careers. Just as research findings are integrated into farmers' best practices in use of food and water, experts are trained to deliver best data-driven practices for advancing diversity in science and engineering. The interim report gives the National Science Foundation, which funded the program, an overview of the structure and achievements of the nine ongoing projects. Read more. [From AAAS Advances - July 2010 email newsletter]
Tierney in NY Times: No Gender Bias in STEM? In back-to-back articles in The New York Times on June 7th and June 14th, John Tierney makes inflammatory claims that there is no real gender bias in "math-related sciences." Instead, he suggests, all disparities between the number of women and men in these fields can be explained by biological differences in the brain and by "personal preferences." Tierney critiques legislation by the Senate funding an NSF initiative to "enhance gender equality" in academic science, defends controversial Lawrence H. Summers' remarks about biological differences between men and women, and refers to studies that find little evidence of gender discrimination, preferential differences, or differences between the brains of men and women. [Adapted from MentorNet email news dated July 8, 2010]
Gender Gap in Activities, Productivity, and Compensation "The gender gap in pay has been well-documented, but what was not understood was whether academic accomplishments could overcome the pay gap," study leader Catherine DesRoches, of the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital, said in a news release. "Our study [published in April 2010 issue Academic Medicine] found that, across the board, men are being paid substantially more than equally qualified and accomplished women at academic medical centers." [posted 7/2010] Link to article: http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2010/04000/Activities,_Productivity,_and_Compensation_of_Men.23.aspx
Academic Women Making 40% Less A study published in Nature found that women in academic fields are making up to 40% less money than their male colleagues. Salary discrepancies between male and female academic scientists in Europe start much earlier than those in North America, but nevertheless this is still happening across the board. [from AWIS Washington Wire, June 2010, Issue II] Fair compensation
A Proposed Model for an Optimal Mentoring Environment for Medical Residents: A Literature Review The authors of this Academic Medicine article identified six interactional foundations that allow protégés to capitalize on their mentors' strengths and enable protégés to engage in four key developmental behaviors. [adapted from Academic Medicine email date 6/4/2010]
In It for the Long-Term: Defining the Mentor-Protégé Relationship in a Clinical Research Training Program The authors of this Academic Medicine article determined seven attributes of good mentoring, and mentors and protégés in a clinical research training program agreed that the mentors demonstrated these attributes. [adapted from Academic Medicine email date 6/4/2010]
Searching for Excellence and Diversity: Increasing the Hiring of Women Faculty at One Academic Medical Center The authors of this Academic Medicine article describe the workshops presented in the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health between 2004 and 2007, and compare the subsequent hiring of women faculty in participating and nonparticipating departments and the self-reported experience of new faculty within the hiring process. [adapted from GWIMS email 6/3/2010]
$200 Million Gender Discrimination Class Action Suit Against Novartis A 5,600-plaintiff class action suit has been brought against Novartis, in which it is claimed that the company discriminated against women by encouraging a culture that ignored complaints of sexual harassment, discouraged pregnancies, underpaid women, and failed to discipline managers who were inappropriate with female staff. With only 30% of district sales managers being women, the class action also describes what it claims is an environment that made it difficult for women to obtain higher-level positions. These claims substantiate violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.[from AWIS Washington Wire–April 2010, Issue I] Gender bias cited in suit against Novartis
Women Win and Lose with the New Health Care Bill Several provisions in the recently signed Health Care Bill will have a positive impact on women in particular, whereas others will have the opposite effect. Positive aspects include elimination of discrimination based on pre-existing conditions (which has been known to include pregnancy), increased access to OB-GYN and midwifery care, partial elimination of gender rating (which often leaves women being charged higher premiums) and free preventative care. Negative aspects include continuation of age and gender rating (for some policies), lack of coverage for immigrant women and changes to abortion coverage by insurance. For a more in-depth analysis, follow the link below. [from AWIS Washington Wire – March 2010, Issue II] The health care bill and women
The Future is Bright for Harvard's Female Faculty This New York Times article reports on the improvements for female Harvard University faculty members since its female President Drew Gilpin Faust has been at the helm. Faust succeeded former president Larry Summers, who became infamous (and subsequently resigned) for his suggestion that women's underrepresentation in math and science fields might be the result of innate differences. Under Faust, professors can now get up to $20,000 to help pay for childcare, and new programs to encourage young women to pursue science and research careers. Furthermore, over a quarter of Harvard's faculty are now women and last year, tenure offers were extended to 16 women and 25 men, compared with four women and 28 men in the last year of Summers' presidency. [from AWIS Washington Wire – March 2010, Issue II] Women making gains on faculty at Harvard
Pay and Promotion Matter A new working paper examines the exodus of women from the science and engineering fields, and upends some popularly accepted wisdom. The author, Jennifer Hunt, finds that the gap is primarily driven by the engineering field, and that "60% of the gap can be explained by the relatively greater exit rate from engineering of women dissatisfied with pay and promotion opportunities." Family-related explanations, which are often blamed for the gap, play a much smaller role. Hunt finds a strong positive relationship between share of male workers and excess female exits, which suggests a need for policies aimed at improving female mentoring and networks, and reducing discrimination, across male-dominated fields.[from AWIS Washington Wire – March 2010, Issue II] Still facing bias and barriers
I'm A Phony Scientists, and especially women scientists, are plagued by feelings of inadequacy. Cheryl Murray, President of the American Physical Society and incoming Dean of Harvard's School of Engineering, still describes "an overwhelming sense of being a fraud, a phony, of not being good enough for her job, despite much evidence to the contrary". This special report by Nature delves into the 'impostor phenomenon', a term coined 30 years ago to describe how women (though later research show that men are afflicted too) have difficulty internalizing their successes. From 'sitting-on' papers to not applying for promotions, this often leads to sabotaging one's own career. The article ends by listing some strategies for helping purge the inner critic such as establishing a relationship with a good mentor, and tackling areas of weakness head-on. Unmasking the impostor[AWIS Washington Wire - February 2010, Issue I]
The Shriver Report Unwrapped Mary Ann Mason, professor and co-director of the Berkeley Law Center on Health, Economic and Family Security, discusses the recently published "Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything," in which she contributed. Mason describes the challenges that a woman entering the workforce faces and the male-female wage-gap that still very much exists. Still earning less [from AWIS Washington Wire - January 2010, Issue II]
Nobel Laureates Call for Gender Balance in Science Elizabeth H. Blackburn and Carol W. Greider, two Nobel Prize winners of 2009, have urged scientific institutions to make some active alterations in their career structures. They point out that women do really well in sciences but are often daunted by the lack of flexibility in career structure at a life crux where they have to balance having a family and advancing in their scientific careers. Drs. Blackburn and Grieder call for a more flexible approach to part-time research or career breaks for women scientists as well as incorporation of women into key committees and decision-making positions. The two Nobel laureates emphasize that active measures need to be taken to help more women scientists reach top positions. [from AWIS Washington Wire Dec. 2009 Issue I] Even out gender gap = http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=9263248
Family Obligations & an Academic Career A new report, based on extensive original research, considers the impact of children and family obligations on women's willingness to pursue faculty positions, and identifies both when and why women and men with caregiving plans or responsibilities drop or opt out of the academic science career path. The report is by Marc Goulden, Ph.D., Karie Frasch, Ph.D., and Mary Ann Mason, J.D., Ph.D., of the University of California, Berkeley, the Berkeley Center on Health, Economic, & Family Security and The Center for American Progress. The report and executive summary are available at: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/11/women_and_sciences.html [This info from the 11/13/2009 AAMC GREAT email newsletter].
updated 12.2.2010
©
The University of Kansas Medical Center