CCL: ICQC shame

Dear all,
I wasn't going to write since I didn't want to add fuel to the theoretical fire of a chain of mails that was expected to grow exponentially. However, some of the last messages called my attention. So here is my dose of hydrocarbons:

1) In some languages "gender" and "sex" are the same word, so you can forgive those mistakes.

2) People that think that "Conferences should be organized according to topics of research, independently of gender" are right, in an ideal world.

3) People that think that "Omitting women from major conferences affects a very large swath of scientist's careers" are also right, showing that we live in a very un-ideal world.

4) Let's face it, most high level scientific societies are mostly composed of senior white men coming from highly developed countries. The reasons for that are a matter for another chain of mails.

5) So it is not unexpected that if you want to prepare a conference with the "crème de la crème", the speakers will probably be senior white men coming from highly developed countries. A matter of statistics. That is what I see in the ICQC meeting (there are several orientals in the speaker list, but hey, it's in Beijing!).

6) Having said that, not making an effort to invite non-senior white men coming from highly developed countries shows a lack of sensitivity for the under-represented colleagues (I wouldn't call women a "minority").

7) Because of that, the circle of "we are the best since we are invited to the best conferences since we are the best" will never be broken. And you are not helping succeed some of the potentially brightest minds (women or any other under-represented people).

8) That is why the term "positive discrimination" was coined. It doesn't need to be a "quota", but not one woman, not one African, Latin-american, eastern-European, south-eastern Asiatic, etc, to this conference makes me wonder if anyone of the organizers thought about helping someone outside their small circle (please correct me if I'm wrong on this).

9) I never thought of this issue in theoretical chemistry until I read the letter from Emily Carter, Anna Krylov and Laura Gagliardi. So I'm in favor of including these topics in CCL.

10) Maybe I can include here the famous quote by Hillel (ending with a quote is always refreshing in a long text or seminar):
"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And when I am for myself, what am 'I'? And if not now, when?"

Best,
Sebastian



On 2/16/2014 5:25 AM, Sergio Manzetti sergio.manzetti..outlook.com wrote:

Dear Aurora,

 I am not sure that the number of women or the number of men defines the quality of a conference. It is the topics, the level of experience built in each topic, and naturally the experience of the presenters, whether they are men or women. I have seen both good men and good women in QM, the latter particularly in teaching. Conferences should be organized according to topics of research, independently of gender. Maybe this conference has topics that are mostly covered by one gender. That does however, not stop anyone from organizing another conference, where, occasionally, another gender is more overrepresented.

Again, the outfall of this is in the topic, scientific advance and expertise, not gender.

If one starts finding missing aspects in terms of WHO is behind the research, the research will disappear and be replaced by persons.

The person behind the research is not really of outomst relevant, it is the research, where I guess all researchers would agree one (men or women).

Cheers



> From: owner-chemistry|ccl.net
> To: sergio.manzetti|gmx.com
> Subject: CCL: ICQC shame
> Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2014 04:12:00 +0000
>
>
> Sent to CCL by: "Clark, Aurora" [auclark#,#wsu.edu]
> It is important to point out that this issue is much broader than
> merely including women in major theoretical conferences, it is about the
> repercussions of not including them and the implications to our field by
> maintaining a status quo that is closed minded. It is multifaceted, but
> inherently about the growth and development of theoretical chemistry as a
> discipline and not really about gender at all.
>
> Omitting women from major conferences affects a very large swath of
> scientist's careers, not only politically, but also in terms of the
> recognition and distribution of the new work they produce and in the
> recruitment and education of talented young people that are badly needed
> in any discipline in order for it to keep its relevance to the
> ever-changing tides of federal funding and an evolving scientific
> state-of-the-art.
>
> It is harder for scientists to get promoted if they are not invited to
> conferences where they are unable to network with potential collaborators,
> program officers, and reviewers of their dossiers. Networking works both
> ways, in that not only does it help the female scientist, but also the
> collaborator...what if you miss out on the next best algorithm for solving
> some complicated numerical problem because you had no opportunity to see a
> poster or talk from said female scientist? What if you pay for a grad
> student to work on this complicated numerical problem and end up paying
> valuable research dollars for this student to solve a problem that has
> already been addressed? What if the next Einstein is an undergrad working
> in your group and she decides she wants to go into Biology because she
> doesn't see anyone that respects her ideas or believes in her potential?
>
> One of the beautiful things about conferences is that they provide a
> platform for showcasing a large group of people working on a problem. If
> you omit an entire population, then you not only hurt those you omit, but
> also yourself and your own opportunities to learn and develop
> a research program, not to mention recruiting new talent to our programs.
> Without these things we degrade our field and eventually, it might not
> matter anymore because no one will see the value in pure, non-applied,
> theoretical chemistry anymore anyways.
>
> So - I view this string not merely about echoing the chorus of how
> terrible it is that there may be discrimination in our discipline, but
> also in the health and development of theoretical chemistry and what our
> field will look like 20 or 50 years from now.
>
>
> Cheers;
> Aurora
>
>
>
>
> Aurora Clark
> Associate Professor
> Department of Chemistry
> Washington State University
> Pullman, Wa 99164
> Ph: 509-335-3362
> Fax: 509-335-8867
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 2/15/14 2:57 PM, "Kadir Diri dirikadir[a]gmail.com"
> <owner-chemistry{=}ccl.net> wrote:
>
> >
> >Sent to CCL by: Kadir Diri [dirikadir ~ gmail.com]
> >Dear Colleagues,
> >
> >I am posting this message on behalf of professor Anna Krylov -one of the
> >many outstanding women in theoretical chemistry- regarding the choice of
> >speakers for the upcoming ICQC conference.
> >
> >I would always like to think of us, scientists, as some of the leading
> >figures in the fight for gender equality. I wish the choice of speakers
> >for this conference was just a statistical abnormality. Even that would
> >be unacceptable...
> >
> >Professor Krylov's message follows below.
> >
> >Best regards,
> >Kadir
> >---
> >
> >
> >Dear Colleague:
> >
> >It happened again --- another major theoretical chemistry conference
> >features an all-male program. One of us began boycotting such
> >conferences 14 years ago and can't believe that 14 years later we are
> >still seeing such overt discrimination. This time it is the 15th
> >International Congress of Quantum Chemistry (ICQC,
> >http://www.icqc2015.org) conducted under the auspices of International
> >Academy of Quantum Molecular Science (http://www.iaqms.org), which will
> >be held in Beijing, China. As of 02/15/2014, the program features 24
> >invited speakers and 5 chairs and honorary chairs and does not include a
> >single woman.
> >
> >Are there no women in theoretical chemistry? Hardly. The Women in
> >Theoretical Chemistry web-directory (http://iopenshell.usc.edu/wtc)
> >lists more than 300 female scientists holding tenured and tenure track
> >academic positions or equivalent positions in industry and other
> >research establishments pursuing research in theoretical and
> >computational chemistry, biochemistry, material science, as well as
> >theoretical molecular/atomic physics and biophysics. Many of these women
> >are far more distinguished than many of the men being invited to speak
> >at these conferences.
> >
> >Feeling as fed up and frustrated as we do? Add your voice to ours by
> >signing this open letter (http://chn.ge/NQGKUc) denouncing this biased
> >practice, which we had hoped would be obsolete long ago (it will take
> >less than a minute).
> >
> >Thank you for your for your support.
> >
> >Prof. Emily Carter, Princeton University
> >Prof. Laura Gagliardi, University of Minnesota
> >Prof. Anna Krylov, University of Southern California>
> >
>
>
>
>
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 ..........Sebastian Kozuch...........
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