The XX Files: Increasing the Visibility of Women in Academia & Science Sandra K. Masur, PhD

1. The XX Files: Increasing the Visibility of Women in Academia & Science Sandra K. Masur, PhD Professor, Department of Ophthalmology Mount Sinai School of Medicine Associate Dean, Faculty Development President, Women Faculty Group Medical College of Wisconsin October 2006

2. 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?

3. 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?

4. 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

5. But it’s a very leaky pipeline Science 2005 309: 1190-1191

6. U.S. Medical School Faculty by Gender and RankAAMC Faculty Roster, May 2005 AAMC Benchmarking report 2005

7. 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

8. 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?

9. The Culture of Science • “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”.

10. 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.

11. 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

12. 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”

13. female male Number of Mentions Skills & Ability Research Career Application Teaching Training Trix & Psenka (2003) Discourse and Society 14: 191. Letters of Recommendation for Female & Male Medical Faculty: Different Emphasis

14. 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 prestige • Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women. Virginia Valian

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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?

18. How do Women Fare in Four Scientific Societies? ASCB American Society for Cell Biology (1960) ASN American Society of Nephrology (1967) ARVO Association for Researchin Vision & Ophthalmology (1928) ASBMR American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (1977)

19. 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 andleaders help? What have we done at WICB?

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

21. 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)

22. Impact of a Leader (1) Dean Arthur H. Rubenstein * * Conferred at annual Academic Convocation 1987-1997 1998-2001

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. 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.

26. W I S E L I Women in Science & Engineering Leadership Institute University of Wisconsin-Madison wiseli.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 LEARN ABOUT OUTSTANDING WOMEN ON YOUR CAMPUS LEARN FROM THE LOCAL EXPERTS ABOUT GENDER ISSUES REVIEW CAMPUS DATA ON EQUITY STUDY WORK/LIFE ISSUES MAKE GENDER ISSUES VISIBLE

27. 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?

28. WOMEN IN CELL BIOLOGY (established in 1971) “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.” Ursula Goodenough Washington University WICB chair (ASCB Pres 1995) Inke Nathke Jr WICB Award 2004 University of Dundee Harvey Lodish MIT Zena Werb UCSF ASCB President 2005 (former WICB chair)

29. WICB • Website • Publications: columns and books • Speaker Referral Service • Annual Meeting Events

30. WICB • Website • Publications: columns and books • Speaker Referral Service • Annual Meeting Events

33. WICB • Website • Publications: columns and books • Speaker Referral Service • Annual Meeting Events

36. Downloadable

37. WICB • Website • Publications: column and books • Speaker Referral Service • Annual Meeting Events

38. 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

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

40. WICB Annual Meeting Events • Careers in Cell Biology Lunch • Evening Program • Saturday Workshop • Junior and Senior Awards

41. WICB Annual Meeting Events • Careers in Cell Biology Lunch • Evening Program • Saturday Workshop • Junior and Senior Awards

42. 2005 WICB Careers in Cell Biology Lunch Table Topics http://www.ascb.org/meetings/am2005/lunchtopics05.htm

43. WICB Careers in Cell Biology Lunch Table Topics http://www.ascb.org/meetings/am2005/lunchtopics05.htm

44. WICB Careers in Cell Biology Lunch Table Topics http://www.ascb.org/meetings/am2005/lunchtopics05.htm

45. WICB Annual Meeting Events • Careers in Cell Biology Lunch • Evening Program • Saturday Workshop • Junior and Senior Awards

46. WICB Evening Program Topics (1983-2005)

47. WICB Evening Program Topics (1983-2005)

48. WICB Annual Meeting Events • Careers in Cell Biology Lunch • Evening Program • Saturday Workshop • Junior and Senior Awards

49. WICB Saturday Workshops (Role playing exercises) 2005 From Conflict to Confidence: Negotiating Day-to-Day Conflicts Managing Difficult People and Difficult Situations

50. WICB Saturday Workshop "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.