New Report On Harassment in Science & Engineering Released
The new @theNASEM report, "Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine" is now available for (free) download here: https://t.co/pgjVZKZ4BC
— AAS Public Policy (@AAS_Policy) June 12, 2018
The report was sponsored by multiple public and private entities, including most of the major federal science agencies: NASA, NSF, NIST, and NOAA (not DOE, though).
— AAS Public Policy (@AAS_Policy) June 12, 2018
The report made an interesting distinction. Most of the reported harassment was described as “gender” not “sexual” harassment. That is, dismissing or treating women unfairly because of their gender, rather than something related to sexual acts. As in, “girls aren’t good at math and you’re only here because we had to hire a token woman,” as opposed to ,“sleep with me if you want to get promoted.” That’s not any better, but I think it’s important to understand the problem if you want to solve it.
Edit: I probably said something wrong, so let me be more clear. By writing, “That’s not any better” I meant to say both are unacceptable, unexcusable and criminal. But rape is clearly different from and worse than discrimination. I did not mean to imply otherwise.