EXXcellence in science

The National Science Foundation reports that twice as many full-time academic men as women are full professors (Women, Minorities and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering; NSF, 1998). But this is not just a problem for women — it’s a problem for the future of research and for society.Determined to do something about this inequality, the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health, sponsored a workshop last year called ‘AXXs’99: Achieving EXXcellence in Science’ (see http://www.ascb.org/ascb). The aim was to explore how scientific societies can contribute to science by promoting the careers of women in research. Why societies? Because they have the potential to reach those at all levels in a given scientific field, to inspire and organize social change.An unusual feature of the workshop was that it invited participation from more than 50 scientific societies, representing a wide variety of disciplines, from mathematics to physics, thoracic surgery and genetics. One of the outcomes for the cell biologists was that they quickly realized that, for all their difficulties, they were much better off than many other women scientists. The biological sciences attract many more women than do the physical sciences; more than half of undergraduate biology majors in the US are women, and the membership of the ASCB reflects this, with half the society’s members being women. Furthermore, the ASCB enjoys a solid tradition of female leadership: of the 10 most recent elected presidents, five are women. We're lucky to be able to build on the momentum that comes from having prominent top women in cell biology.But even in biology, women don't seem to progress as readily as their male contemporaries. The percentage of active women biologists declines steadily as one proceeds up the ranks from undergraduate through to department chair, and beyond. An ASCB membership survey indicates that men with tenure outnumber women with tenure by 3:1 (Mol Biol Cell 1998, 9:3003-3006).So what has come out of AXXs’99 (and its successor workshop this year)? The obstacles women face in career advancement have been identified, and solutions refined into four practical aims: increasing the number of women in leadership roles within the societies; implementing effective mentorship, career development programs and support mechanisms for scientists at all levels; promoting women's achievements within scientific societies and to the general public; disseminating information about existing programs that work, in order to change scientific organizational culture.How can these aims, or any real change for women, be achieved by scientific societies? The ASCB has found that several factors have contributed to progress. The first was to recruit a women’s committee that includes highly respected researchers and intellectuals — women to whom men assign credibility. These distinguished women are balanced with younger women who have energy to invest in committee activities, and whose careers may be enhanced by their participation.The committee has created an agenda that is both positive and achievable; too often, when groups who may feel aggrieved come together to share concerns, the environment can degenerate into a gripe session, which poisons the atmosphere, interferes with progress and disaffects the larger organisation. It's important to ensure that most, if not all, of the activities of the women's committee are gender-neutral, or are of some interest to men. For example, the main career networking activity of the ASCB is sponsored by the society's women's committee. So, although the activities are for members of both sexes, the status of women as majority participants is subtly empowering to the hundreds of women present.One way of ensuring that the interests of the women's committee cannot be easily disregarded is to encourage overlapping membership between the society's women's committee and its leadership.The difference between meaning well and doing well is follow-through. When push comes to shove, volunteers must give a higher priority to their careers than to their society contributions. It's therefore vitally important to hire staff for the project, whose own careers depend on seeing intentions become realities.Whatever the ebb and flow within specific career paths, it is clear that a scientifically prepared workforce is essential to continued growth of the global economy. If women continue to be under-represented in the senior ranks of science, young women who may be considering a scientific career will be justifiably discouraged from it. It is incumbent upon scientific societies to serve the interests of their constituencies by identifying and combating the barriers to advancement for all sections of their membership.