Scientists have banded together to call out the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in an open letter, criticizing events that help prevent underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering and math from advancing in their fields.
A draft for the open letter has been in circulation for several days but the authors only released the final version at the same time it was sent to the AAAS Tuesday. Signed by Aradhna K. Tripati, Ph.D., Jennifer B. Glass, Ph.D. and Lenny Teytelman, Ph.D. and supported by more than 600 other scientists, the open letter asks that AAAS works more diligently in preventing harmful stereotypes in the content it publishes, and recommending that diversity training be provided to all of its editorial staff.
There were four specific instances that the authors referred to in making their point:
* A recent article in the Science journal's Working Life section that reinforced sexist stereotypes (an accomplished scientist credited his success to working long hours, which was only made possible by his wife taking on majority of domestic responsibilities).
* Advice given in a Science Careers post in which a postdoctoral researcher was advised to just tolerate a colleague's behavior (her adviser keeps looking down her shirt) so she doesn't risk hurting her chances at advancing her career.
* An image of headless transgender sex workers of color (captioned "Staying a step ahead of HIV/AIDS) was used as a cover photo in the journal Science, associating HIV/AIDS and prostitution with transgender individuals, people of color and women.
* A Science Careers editor tweeting a comment ("Am I the only one who finds moral indignation really boring?") in response to criticisms about the previously mentioned cover photo.
Reaction to the magazine's cover image of the headless transgender women prompted a note to readers from Marcia McHutt, the editor in chief, saying the image was chosen after discussion and wasn't intended to offend anyone. "I am truly sorry for any discomfort that this cover may have caused anyone, and promise that we will strive to do much better in the future to be sensitive to all groups and not assume that context and intent will speak for themselves," McNutt wrote.
And it promoted this 2014 comment from Tabitha Powledge, a science blogger at PLOS, the Public Library of Science. "...the decision revealed that some science media folk – even powerful ones, or maybe particularly powerful ones – remain inexplicably clueless about science's much-talked about gender problems."
The main authors of the open letter had qualms about publicly representing the cause because they were worried about their careers. However, their concerns for their personal well-being did not outweigh their desire to help the STEM fields change for the better.
"We decided we could use our position of relative privilege, as opposed to students and postdocs, to make a difference," said Tripati.
The AAAS and Science journal may be central to the issues specifically mentioned in the open letter but the association and the journal are only starting points. They are not the only ones with the problem but as an esteemed organization and publication, they can heavily influence how stereotypes are handled and whether they are banished.
Photo: U.S. Army RDECOM | Flickr
