Sending The Wrong Message About Space Settlement
Have a look at the speaker line up for the #ISDC Policy Forum for Space Settlement. 29 speakers are shown. Only 3 are female.
Is the @NSS vision of space settlement a boys-only thing? It certainly comes across that way. Just sayin'https://t.co/wvKxiSNpIB #ISDC2019 pic.twitter.com/aZ68sHfC16
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) June 4, 2019
Dig deeper in the Program and look at the NSS Board. The women are
not in the body count, they are shaking and moving behind the headliners. Look for Dr. Sherry Bell, co-chair of Living in Space, Lynne Zielinski,and many years behind the Student Space Settlement Contest and currently the student policy debates and Dr. Zarana Patel, an invited NASA speaker and co-director of NASA TRISH. That’s real girl power!
Wrong message is right. Commenters will probably note all the usual culprits here (little ol’ boys club syndrome, systemic filters long before you get here, settlement visions that lean male, about competing, fear of country X, etc.) I’d add a couple of thoughts.
One, that in the last generation industry and NASA program consolidation have drastically reduced everyone’s opportunities to attend face to face forums. Travel restrictions were a god send to upper management that wanted to rein in minority reports (or as they would say “enable consistent messaging”). I think an inevitable consequence of this has been only predictable faces follow at the remaining forums. This does not help anyone young, minority or female. It creates an uninviting forum environment for most – excepting the usual suspects.
Second, there’s political entrenchment in Space matters. This has vastly increased this last generation. Space matters used to be more open to all ideas – until the end of the Shuttle was real that is. Then the ideas came to be seen as having consequences. Political consequences. Since then the openness shifted gears down, like to zero. The more politics the more Gerst like figures, excluding whoever looks, speaks or has different ideas than that Gerst phenotype. These figures are the expectation of our political overlords after all, especially of a certain party that skews all older male in Congress too. Women and minorities need not apply to lead here. They lack the clubs secret decoder ring.
Fix a lot of these issues – especially the ease with which NASA and industry people with a good idea can represent their organizations and explore new ideas – and I think the joy of many ideas will again flourish, as will the broad spectrum of the people behind them.
Keith, Why are you so bent on “requiring” female participation. This is a free country and if you want to do space stuff you can. It is silly of you to “require” female participation if it is not in your blood. Let people choose what they want to participate in.
I am not requiring anything. I am pointing out how lopsided the diversity is at this event and how a large portion of society is not represented. Yes its a free country and I will point out whatever I damn well please to point out on my blog.. If you do not like that then go read something else.
Well, I make the fifth male commenter here. Seems as though male interest in space is prominent here and every space conference that I’ve ever been to.
Clearly, our gracious host is a sexist for having such a disproportionately male commentariat.
Yup. Women are smart enough to avoid posting here.