More than 600 scientists and their supporters have a signed an open letter to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), accusing it of producing material that reinforces detrimental stereotypes about women and other underrepresented groups. The letter refers to four specific incidents. The first was a cover run by the AAAS’s flagship…
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Clear distinctions between the male and female sexes are continually reinforced throughout society, perpetually highlighting differences between the sexes, while any similarities are often disregarded. Due to scientific discourses, which repeatedly exaggerate differences between men and women, many have come to accept that the two genders are subject to biological determinism, and that one’s…
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It’s a tough go for women in science, but there’s a sigh of relief for three Aussie ladies in lab coats who have been awarded the 2013 L’Oréal for Women in Science Fellowship. This year’s honours went to Dr Kathryn Holt (who is studying the genome of deadly bacteria in epidemics), Dr Misty Jenkins (who’s…
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Artist who designed the American Apparel ‘period power’ t shirt gets her Instagram account deleted. Petra Collins, the artist who designed the now infamous American Apparel ‘period power’ t shirt that we were all talking about a few weeks ago, has had her Instagram account deleted because body regulation. In classic social media anti-woman-censorship, Collins’…
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In 1920, British publication The Engineer wrote that ‘nature has not fitted women for engineering. Though here and there, one may break away from the norm, just as we may find now and then a great woman novelist or a tolerable woman artist.’ Since those words of misogynistic wisdom were written in the ’20s, women…
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Female scientists are being urged to climb the career ladder as early as possible. Australian Laureate Fellow, physicist Tanya Monro, is encouraging young women to take risks in their career, rather than settling for job security. Professor Monro has recently won a share of $47 million in Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship funding. With the…
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Parisian Couture Week arrives to us wrapped up in a whole lot of ethical issues; the age and weight of models on the runways frequently generates media discussion and the astronomical costs of the Couture pieces themselves are impossible for some to justify, causing them to just tune out. But to brush aside Couture Week…
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I finished my undergraduate science degree last week. I’ve learnt a lot from that experience. I’ve learnt a lot about chemistry, for starters. But I’ve also learnt that right now, what girls get told in high school about science is a lie. It’s a lie that goes, ‘More women study science than men these days….
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Being a woman in the sciences is tough. According to researchers at Ohio State University if you’re a female researcher, chances are people will think less of your work and be less interested in collaborating with you. In the study, 243 communication graduates (70% of which were female) from around the US students evaluated research…
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On Wednesday 20 March, the owner of the popular facebook page ‘I fucking love science’ (an excellent page – check it out!) revealed their true identity over Twitter — and it turns out her name is Elise Andrews … and she’s a woman! [Cue gasps of surprise] And there certainly must have been gasps of…
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Scientists and artists are often portrayed at the opposite ends of the spectrum, with rational thought at one end and creativity at the other. In many ways this is in itself a modern construct as the great thinkers of the past were often both. Now, in the 21st century we are heading back to a…
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If you’re anything like me, you like to eat. In fact, if you’re anything like any human being on the planet, you like to eat. Without food we end up dying. So it figures that anything to do with ‘food security’ should be on our proverbial plate. It scared me somewhat that ‘peak phosphorus’ had…
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This year, after much soul-searching, I decided to begin a Bachelor of Science at the University of Adelaide. While the administration’s decision to give all first–year science students an iPad, sans charge, has been better than a kick in the head, I’m not so sure about the other thing they’ve concocted this year: Principles and…
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