US legislation aims to help bring women to research.
For the third time since 2008, US legislators have introduced a bill in the House of Representatives aimed at tackling gender inequalities in research. Eddie Bernice Johnson (Democrat, Texas), the sponsor of the bill, argues that the paucity of women in fields such as physics constitutes a competitive disadvantage for the United States. The bill would compel all US funding agencies to extend grants or fund temporary workers when researchers need time off to care for their families. The first try at the legislation died in committee in 2008; the second, last year, hitched it to another bill from which it was stripped before passage. Progress depends on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and its chairman, Ralph Hall (Republican, Texas), who will decide whether the bill will be considered.
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Gender equality bid. Nature 471, 539 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nj7339-539b
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nj7339-539b