Redressing the balance

“I am the only female in my chemistry department and I have often wondered why I have such a hard time being heard in faculty meetings. Sometimes it seems as if I'm being ignored, but then a few minutes later, someone else will say almost my exact words and his comment gets agreement and acceptance.”

This is the voice of one of hundreds of women science and engineering faculty members who have come to workshops in the United States run by the Committee on the Advancement of Women Chemists (COACh).

The COACh workshops aim to eliminate gender-bias barriers that hamper the progress of women in science and, in the meantime, to help women faculty members to move up the career ladder and become leaders in their research, teaching or administrative roles. These successes then create role models and mentors for younger women scientists.

Over the past four years, COACh has run workshops to help women enhance their communication and negotiation skills and gain effective leadership techniques. They have also provided information on creating strategies to make institutional and departmental changes that can improve the climate, recruiting and retention of underrepresented groups.

Case studies, theatre, role-playing and lively debate contribute to the learning experience for the 15–20 participants in each session.

More than 300 women have attended the workshops in the past four years. As word has spread through the science community, women scientists in other disciplines have hired COACh lecturers to hold workshops at their home institutions and professional meetings, adding another 700 female academic scientists to the tally.

In October, COACh will hold its first workshop specifically geared towards ethnic minority women who are science faculty members and postdoctoral associates. And it is now collaborating with women scientists in Germany, Britain and South America to bring workshops to these countries. The organization is also designing a series of forums for men and women faculty members and administrators, which will be aimed at improving inclusivity, thereby enhancing faculty and department productivity. The popularity of its workshops in the United States and the interest in them from abroad shows that COACh is fulfilling a previously unmet need.

→ http://coach.uoregon.edu