{"id":8781,"date":"2013-10-12T15:08:34","date_gmt":"2013-10-12T20:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/all-geo.org\/highlyallochthonous\/?p=8781"},"modified":"2013-10-12T15:17:30","modified_gmt":"2013-10-12T20:17:30","slug":"i-will-not-be-silent-any-longer-about-the-way-women-and-people-of-color-in-science-and-leadership-are-treated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/all-geo.org\/highlyallochthonous\/2013\/10\/i-will-not-be-silent-any-longer-about-the-way-women-and-people-of-color-in-science-and-leadership-are-treated\/","title":{"rendered":"I will not be silent any longer about the way women and people of color in science and leadership are treated"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/span>As my daughter plays paleontologist in the next room, I\u2019m thinking about three stories from the last few months. They are stories that illustrate why despite the progress women and minorities have made in the past few decades we still have so far to go before we get anywhere near true gender parity in science and leadership. They are stories that show how far some people will go to silence women and minority voices, and how those silencers are in positions of power or aided and abetted by those who are. <\/p>\n

In June, rock star scientist \u201cCanopy\u201d Meg Lowman<\/a> was, with no public explanation, stripped of her directorship of the Nature Research Center<\/a> at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences<\/a>. As director of the Nature Research Center, Lowman, an incredibly distinguished scientist in her own right, was the supervisor of scientists working in innovative ways, directly with the public. The mission<\/a> of the Nature Research Center is to \u201cbring research scientists and their work into the public eye, help demystify what can be an intimidating field of study, better prepare science educators and students, and inspire a new generation of young scientists.\u201d What better person to help the center succeed at its mission than its charismatic director, Dr. Lowman? But instead, the museum\u2019s leader demoted her to Senior Scientist, took away her direct supervisorial responsibilities, and spent a bunch of ink emphasizing<\/a> how she would still be a \u201cfemale leader\u201d and a \u201crole model to girls and women in science.\u201d Personally, as a woman in science and mother of a girl in science, I thought Dr. Lowman was much better able to be a leader and role model as director of the research center than just as senior scientist. But clearly, those with power didn\u2019t want her voice and authority to be too loud. It\u2019s OK for Dr. Lowman to talk about \u201cwomen stuff\u201d but she shouldn\u2019t presume to go beyond that. <\/p>\n

In July, in the UK, female activists campaigned for Jane Austen to be featured on a bank note, after the Bank of England, which regularly changes up who is on their currency, decided to replace Elisabeth Fry with Winston Churchill. This change would have left the UK with the Queen as only the female on their currency. In response to this campaign, the activists were treated to voluminous death and rape threats<\/a> on Twitter. When female politicians voiced their support for the activists and Jane Austen, they too were threatened. So were the female journalists who covered the story<\/a> (and only the female journalists, not the men). The intent of those who threatened the activists, MPs, and journalists was to silence women\u2019s voices and put these women \u201cin their place\u201d and out of the public sphere. While any one individual did not have much power, their use of threats and mob mentality became a way to exert power over the women involved.<\/p>\n

This week, scientist Danielle Lee, who blogs at The Urban Scientist<\/a> politely declined a request to blog for free at biology-online.org. The editor who had solicited her work responded thusly: \u201cAre you an urban scientist or an urban whore?\u201d That\u2019s right, a polite declination to provide her professional services earned Danielle the sexist, racist label \u201curban whore.\u201d Danielle, an amazingly strong woman, role model, and inspiration, turned that response into a teachable moment. She posted a video explaining why she declined the request to blog for biology-online.org: <\/p>\n