astra_nomer | How to Encourage Women in Science (Reply)

I've been musing over how lucky I am to be in this department. There aren't actually a whole lot of people in the astronomy group, but they are all very good scientists working in fields closely related to my own interests. There are actually more women astronomy postdocs than men, and while I'm the only one with children, two of the women faculty have kids close in age to mine. A third woman, an emeritus faculty member who still comes in to work everyday, is an Eminent Woman in Astronomy. She has wonderful (and not-so-wonderful) stories about her life, about raising her children and fighting discrimination. Another postdoc here, not in astronomy, has brought in her babies with her to work everyday, although her older child is now in pre-school. There are lots of people, both men and women, to talk to about raising kids. We talk about the challenges of finding good daycare and schools, balancing work and family, what do you do when you have to travel, etc. The men here seem to be just as committed to their families as the women are. It's such a family-friendly environment.

Compare that to how alone I felt in graduate school, when none of my peers were having children, when there were few women around to see as role models, and people just weren't as friendly in general, especially across lines of seniority, and I realize that I'm just so much more happy here.

If we want to encourage more women in science, this place is totally the model for how you should run things.