Do masculine leadership titles undermine women’s leadership? Debates about using masculine or gender-neutral words to describe leadership positions, jobs and awards affect nearly all domains of society from business to politics and media. Recently, local politicians have considered changing titles such as “alderman” or “councilman” to their gender-neutral counterparts (e.g., “council member”). While some dismiss calls for gender-neutral titles as mere acts of political correctness, proponents argue that masculine language is not a neutral stand-in for “person” or “leader.” Instead, masculine language may undermine women’s leadership by reinforcing harmful stereotypes that positions of power are reserved for men. Want to know more, then read here.
How well-intentioned white male physicists maintain ignorance of inequity and justify inaction. A Reading tip from our member Sophie Huiberts: Want to know more? Read here.
The glass cliff. The term ‘the glass cliff’ describes the phenomenon where women (and members of other marginalised groups) are more likely to occupy leadership roles in times of crisis. The metaphor captures the increased risk and precarity of leadership when things are going badly: a sense of being up high, yet teetering on the edge. Want to know more, then read this article.
How can educators prevent the development of Mathematics Anxiety? Mathematics Anxiety may sound like a trivial issue once school exams are over, but, argues Meena Mehta Kotecha, it has far-reaching consequences for both individuals and society. Her research explores its impact and identifies ways educators can help reduce unfavourable narratives about mathematics. Please read here.
Don’t get mad, get equal: putting an end to misogyny in science. There is not one version of leadership, despite what the long historical trail of male leaders might suggest. Women should be able to step off the tightrope to embrace a diversity of authentic leadership styles — and not just land on their feet, but also receive resounding applause, say Alison Bentley and Rachael Garrett. Curious to know more, then read here.
Living Proof: Stories of Resilience Along the Mathematical Journey is a free e-book collection of over 40 mathematicians’ first-person stories of struggles and strength along their professional paths. The writers hope that sharing these stories can become an important part of someone else’s story of resilience. The e-book is available here.
Right Kind of wrong: After decades of award-winning research, Amy Edmondson is here to upend our understanding of failure and make it work for us. In Right Kind of Wrong, Edmondson provides the framework to think, discuss, and practice failure wisely. She illustrates how we and our organizations can embrace our human fallibility, learn exactly when failure is our friend, and prevent most of it when it is not.
The third annual report of Standing Committee for Gender Equality in Science has been published. The Standing Committee for Gender Equality in Science (SCGES) is an independent committee formed in 2020 by nine international scientific organizations, most of which are full members of the International Science Council (ISC). The report presents collected data, activities of the organizations to promote the gender equality and policies. The report can be found here.
“Why would I want to do a PhD in Computer Science?”: As an initiative within the IPN EDI working group, Lynda Hardman coordinated the creation of the booklet: “Why would I want to do a PhD in Computer Science?” This contains around 20 “non-standard” CV’s of people who did a PhD around 5 years ago and have pursued a career outside (or inside) academia and can be dowloaded here.
Gender and retention patterns among U.S. faculty. Women remain underrepresented among faculty in nearly all academic fields. Using a census of 245,270 tenure-track and tenured professors at United States-based PhD-granting departments, we show that women leave academia overall at higher rates than men at every career age, in large part because of strongly gendered attrition at lower-prestige institutions, in non-STEM fields, and among tenured faculty. Read the article here.
The Guilty Feminist is an award-winning podcast and live show hosted by Deborah Frances-White. It is a supportive forum to discuss our noble goals as 21st century feminists and the hypocrisies and insecurities that undermine them.
BroadTalk is a podcast about women, power, and the wayward world. Presented by Virginia Haussegger, the series casts a razor-sharp gender lens over politics and policy and explores big ideas and imperfect lives.
Should you or should you not talk about your burn-out, sexual orientation, and menopause at your workplace? In this episode, Tessa Diphoorn and Brianne McGonigle Leyh discuss the concept of PRIVACY together with Prof. Dr. Jojanneke van der Toorn and Dr. Martine Veldhuizen. Want to know more, then listen here and for posters go here.
Mindset and managerial solutions to unrealistic expectations and gender inequality at home and work. Dr Jacqueline Kerr interviews researchers, coaches and HR experts and provides practical behavior change advice that working moms can try.
Math Therapy: How trauma affects the brain with Liesl McConchie. In this episode, brain expert Liesl McConchie explains the neurological science of trauma, debunk the myth of the “math gene”, and discuss the hopeful promise of neuroplasticity. Want to know more, then listen here.
Mental Health Matters: a podcast series: Mental Health Matters is a light-hearted and invigorating podcast series in which PhD students Robyn and PJ (Pieter-Jan) invite other young researchers at KU Leuven to talk about their mental well-being. During each episode: young researchers share inspiring stories about how they stay in good mental health. You will get answers to questions like ‘how do you deal with stress, isolation or anxiety?’, ‘how do you create a good work-life balance?’ and ‘how do you stay motivated during your research process?’ Colleagues and professors at KU Leuven share their advice and experiences. Podcast is available here.
Conversation with prominent female leaders: Julia Gillard used to be a prime minister of Australia. She is now hosting a podcast “A Podcast of One’s Own with Julia Gillard”, where she is in conversation with prominent female leaders from a range of different fields and backgrounds. The podcast aims to celebrate the stories of female leaders, learn lessons from their lives and share insights on what works to get more women into leadership positions. The podcast can be listened here.
Causes of gendered power hierarchies: The RE-WIRING research project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe program, focuses on identifying the structural root causes of gendered power hierarchies in European countries and beyond. RE-WIRE recently launched their own podcast: the RE-WIRING podcast series. In the inaugural episode, Ajohche Awungjia provides an introduction to the project. Ajohche unravels the project’s core, emphasizing the role she has played and the interdisciplinary essence fueling its innovations. Listen to the first episode here.
