Monthly Archives: April 2018

Update on NIPS conference

Institutional Climate

A few weeks ago we shared the letter that Hopkins faculty and grad students sent to the executive board of NIPS advocating for a name change and a code of conduct. We are very happy to report that, in addition to updating the code of conduct:

(My advice? Savor the moment. Don’t read the comments.)

The power is in the data

Institutional Climate

Screen Shot 2018-04-15 at 9.12.34 PMI posted this over at my GenderEquityinScience blog but I am repeating here because a Salary Equity study is one of the projects our Committee on the Status of Women here at Homewood would like to pursue. To do that we’ll need data. Lots of data.

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Wow! 60 Minutes tonight.

I love data. And I agree with the sentiment of the story they ran tonight: the real power is in the data.

But so much of the data associated with unconscious bias in the workplace is – well – squishy.  Not so for salary data. Everyone knows how to count those green dollars.

Even so, there is a well known gender gap between the salaries of men and women: white women earn on average only 80 cents for every dollar that a man earns. This is even worse for women with intersectional identities. So, if you are interested in gender equity as it relates to your salary – and who wouldn’t be? – then you should definitely check out the 60 Minutes story that ran tonight about Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/salesforce-ceo-marc-benioff-leading-by-example-to-close-the-gender-pay-gap/

First, Kudos goes out this CEO for using his privilege to bring more voice to this problem. And second, special Kudos goes out to him for putting his money where his mouth is. To the tune of millions of dollars. Yes, millions. That’s at least six $$$$$$.

This CEO learned that he had to pony up this money through a company-wide salary audit. In other words, they collected the data, then analyzed it, then acted on it. What they did not do is bury it or keep it a secret. All workplaces should adopt this practice. As Mr. Benioff learned, gender inequities in salary are endemic to our society, and we must all be vigilant about checking for these on a regular basis.

#WeMustDoBetter for our society, for our #WomenInSTEM, and for women in general.

And the only way we will know if we are doing better is to have the data to test whether our salaries, access to resources and space allocations are equitable.

Public knowledge: “Black Womanhood” syllabus & women’s studies on wikipedia

collaboration & leadership, teaching

Black Womanhood syllabusCongratulations to professors Jessica Marie Johnson & Martha S. Jones, whose public syllabus for their course “Black Womanhood” is featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education! The syllabus is on Professor Johnson’s blog,  Diaspora Hypertext.

Here’s an excerpt from the Chronicle article:

“Within days of the syllabus being posted, some commenters suggested readings to add. . . . Since then, the syllabus has spread beyond academe. . . . Some people outside of higher education have expressed surprise that such a course exists at all. Some said they wish the subject had been taught in grade school. Successfully reaching a broader audience, Jones said, is ‘powerful stuff.'”

Please note also that the Faculty Forum is back, and Professor Jones is one of the presenters on Monday, April 9. Hope you can come!

Also, “Women’s-Studies Students Across the Nation Are Editing Wikipedia” features an interview with Allison Kimmich, executive director of the National Women’s Studies Association, about a partnership between NWSA and the Wiki Education Foundation. Kimmich says:

“Wikipedia is the fifth-most-visited website in the world. It’s a major source of information globally. . . . There is pretty obviously a gender bias in terms of featured articles on Wikipedia: The most numerous featured articles are articles on war and militarism. And that’s a particular view of the world that I think women’s- and gender-studies students can contribute to correcting and balancing. The other thing I’ve heard when I hear faculty talk about having participated in this initiative is that students are incredibly motivated by doing this work because they can see it has a real impact.”

Image credit: http://dh.jmjafrx.com/teaching/black-womanhood/