According to a new EEOC report, women hold just 29% of federal STEM jobs and 26% of supervisory and leadership roles. This translates to a gender-based pay gap. The report also states that 14% of women in the federal STEM workforce filed formal complaints on equality issues in fiscal year 2019. The under-representation of women among leaders has contributed to a gender-based pay gap. On average, women in federal research jobs earned just over US$84,600 per year - about $4,300 less than men earned. Men averaged higher salaries than did women in science, engineering and maths. In technology, women out-earned men by about $2,000 (just under $86,600 annually, compared with men’s pay of just under $84,600), partly because the relatively few women in that field hold a disproportionate number of senior positions.

The Program Development Grant (PDG) Committee invites you to consider applying for a PDG to financially support your outreach and professional development activities! Micro-grants are available to support the strategic activities of SWE Organizations. If you are interested in financially supporting your outreach and professional activities you can apply for a program development grant. Applications due is October 22nd 2022.

AWIS is pleased to announce a new institutional partnership with Michigan State University, one of the world’s leading research universities. All qualifying MSU students and postdoctoral researchers will now have access to AWIS’ community of STEM professionals and industry partners. AWIS’ mission aligns with MSU’s mission to push the boundaries of discovery, expand opportunity and advance equity to make a better, safer, healthier world for all. It also aligns with many of the goals of our university-wide strategic plan and academic strategic plan. With our shared commitments to promoting equity and inclusion, mentoring, and leadership opportunities for women in science, I am confident that MSU’s community of scholars will benefit from the broad range of resources and programming that AWIS brings to this partnership.

New article on SciArt that captures artistic beauty, communicates scientific concepts, and raises visibility for social issues in science. We often hear about the stark differences between art and science, that some people are analytical while others are freethinkers, with little room to mix,” according to the exhibit founders. In reality, artists and scientists actually have a lot in common. Scientists often spend hours taking, creating, and editing beautiful images, figures, and videos, in the same way an artist labors over a new idea or piece. Both are seeking to capture truths about the world around us. Indeed, while science and art are often portrayed as polar opposites or as mutually exclusive, they actually have fundamental similarities that make them compatible, despite their apparent differences. Because of their synergy, the two fields have melded over time to become known as “SciArt” — or #SciArt, a popular hashtag linking together a vast online world of creativity.

Since 2018, Dr. Alexandra A. Phillips has been highlighting diverse WomenInSTEM through Women Doing Science. With almost 100K followers on Instagram, she has now published a paper analyzing the impact of profiling WomenInScience on social media. Find out what she learned!

Explore timely topics with exiting thought leaders who will engage, inform and inspire you on the AWIS journey What's Next. First webinar Leveraging Social Media for Professional Opportunities starts on 17th August.

The Collegiate Leadership Institute’s (CLI) overarching goal is to equip collegiate members with the skills, knowledge, and leadership abilities that will enable them to become global leaders in their engineering careers and serve as a future pipeline for leaders in the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). To do this, the program aims to motivate, inspire, and support SWE collegiate members to successfully transition to the engineering workforce by providing key practices that will accelerate and enhance the success of collegiate to entering the engineering workforce.

Don't miss out on this wonderful professional development opportunity! SWE's Executive Leadership Program (eXXec) focuses on empowering women who aspire to executive status. Find out more about the program and register.

A large, comprehensive study reveals what privilege looks like in science: straight, white men who are not disabled get more pay, greater respect and a wealth of career opportunities compared with all other groups. A large, comprehensive study reveals what privilege looks like in science: straight, white men who are not disabled get more pay, greater respect and a wealth of career opportunities compared with all other groups. Past studies have shown how sexism, racism and other types of discrimination separately contribute to inequality in academia. But sociologist Erin Cech at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor compared the experiences of researchers who fit along a spectrum of 32 intersecting identities. She analysed data from a survey of roughly 25,300 researchers working in sectors including academia, industry and government in the United States, conducted between 2017 and 2019. The study was published in Science Advances last month.

The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) had call upon Congress to reach a final agreement by the end of July on H.R. 4521, the America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology, and Economic Strength (COMPETES) Act, and S. 1260, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA). “The need for this legislation is broadly recognized, and delay or failure should not be an option. We believe sensible bipartisan compromises can be reached on many of the outstanding issues and that a final agreement coupled with supplemental funding would bolster U.S. competitiveness, address supply chain issues, and enhance U.S. security,” the letter reads. Congress is at the cusp of making major policy improvements and much-needed investments that will enable the U.S. to remain the global leader in science and technology. Without these improvements, however, the U.S. stands to not only lose its status as global innovator, but lose scientific talent seeking opportunity elsewhere. “American scientific excellence and technological leadership is not magically sustained – it is fostered by policy that nurtures and funds innovation. Congress should make a down payment on American competitiveness, sponsor a generation of world-class technological talent, and let the fruits of that talent make the case for America’s competitive edge,” says FAS CEO Dan Correa. “The need for a new American investment in research and development is widely recognized, so what better moment for Congress to invest than now? The bipartisan bills before Congress share a similar goal – to supercharge American science. Congress should seize the moment and make the robust investments we need,” says FAS Associate Director of Research & Development and Advanced Industry Matt Hourihan.