DARYL E. CHUBIN
In December 1995, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Deputy Director Anne Petersen hosted a conference on “Women and Science” in Washington, DC (National Science Foundation 1997). The conference drew 700 participants (90+ percent women scholars, educators, and federal agency administrators). Today, such a gathering sounds unremarkable, but it was remarkable then. NSF had funded several conferences and workshops on gender but had never hosted its own event—determining the agenda and giving the topic agency, and indeed, federalwide visibility.
The concluding panel of the two-day conference, featuring plenary and breakout sessions, was moderated by Director Neal Lane. The panelists were the assistant directors of all NSF directorates. The symbolism was unmistakable. The highest ranking authorities within the agency charged with the support of science and engineering research and education were given minutes each to indicate how their directorates were supporting participation of women in the enterprise. This was, in effect, going on the public record.
To affirm the “field’s” reaction to what was being pledged, Director Lane invited comments from the floor. Women converged on the open mikes. Most were laudatory of the event, praising NSF for its forthrightness in providing an opportunity for women to “set their own agenda” and “speak informally in smaller groups” instead of being lectured to and reassured that their concerns were being heard.
To some in attendance, the praise seemed misplaced. This was 1995! NSF should have been “doing the right thing” since at least the 1980 reauthorization that charged NSF with increasing representation of women and minorities in science (see below). What sometimes appears as a milestone might be reconsidered as payment on an overdue account.
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