sam@phs.UUCP (Sherry Marts) (11/03/84)
My initial reactions to the flames about the "Women in Computer Science"
organization was to ignore them. The women who belong to the organization
and those who choose to join them understand the reasons and need for
the WCS, and I'm sure it will grow and thrive despite the spurious cries
of "sexism" from the insecure who are afraid of being left out.
The other day I received the program for the Annual Meeting of the
American Society for Cell Biology (of which I am a student member).
Among the events of this week-long gathering is a meeting of the
Women in Cell Biology (WCB). I think Ellen Dirksen, this year's
Chaiperson of the WCB, sums up the reasons for the existence of
the WCB and similar organizations. She says:
There is little question that this is an important period
for women who have chosen careers in the sciences. Until
recently, only extraordinary (in the fullest sense of the
word) women were willing to accept the difficulties they
knew awaited them as a consequence of their decision. It
is not that we were not capable, but we were not always
willing to make the either-or choice necessary for survival
in science. It is now beginning to be possible, for the first
time in history, for relatively large numbers of women
to consider freely a future in science without feeling
that the choice is an extraordinary one. And yet we still
need a sense of community. For this reason, the decision
was made to establish a more formal role for the WCB.
Many of us are, perhaps, the only women in our departments,
or the only tenured women in our colleges. We thus look
forward to renewing our friendships with other women at
our Annual Meetings for support, encouragement, and
fellowship.
I think the important phrases are: "a sense of community" and
"support, encouragement, and fellowship". That is what I'm looking
for when I join a group like the WCB or the AAUW or any other
professional women's group. Community, support, friendship,
encouragement. A chance to feel less isolated from other women.
Am I sexist? I'm not seeking to deny anyone the opportunity to
move forward in her or his career. I am merely seeking out the
comfort of knowing others who have fought the same fights, survived
the same struggles, and wanted to scream "It's just NOT FAIR" as
many times as I have.
Sherry Marts
Duke University Department of Physiologyag5@pucc-k (Leo Buscaglia) (11/05/84)
<<>>
A (perhaps moot) point . . . there used to be a student group
on campus called "Women in Computer Science." This academic year, they
have changed their constitution, by-laws and name to reflect a change
in their attitude toward the rest of the world... and now they call
themselves "MACRO" <Majors in All Computer-Related Options> and have
members from both sexes and all majors.
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"It's a radio for deaf-mutes!"carson@homxa.UUCP (P.CARSTENSEN) (11/05/84)
There is a group called something like Women in Mathematics that holds a couple sessions at the joint AMA/AMS/SIAM meetings. These sessions have been very helpful to me, especially the ones that deal with history of women in mathematics--the women whose fathers burned their algebra books, the women who won prizes only when they used assumed names, the women who secretly did mathematics when everyone assumed they were sleeping. (I highly recommend Sonya Kovaleskia (sp??) memoir, _A Russian Childhood_ on this topic...) Patty
david@bragvax.UUCP (David DiGiacomo) (11/13/84)
Caption from photo in EE Times, Nov. 5 1984, p. 6: "Dennis Mardon, a division manager at Bell Communications Research, receives award from the Society of Women Engineers for his belief that more women should be placed in high-level engineering jobs. He shakes hands with Barbara Rosentroch, president, as Julie Gibouleau looks on." They must give out a lot of those awards. (:-)?) -- David DiGiacomo, BRAG Systems Inc., San Mateo CA (415) 342-3963 (...decvax!ucbvax!hplabs!bragvax!david)