Gender Equality deserves the attention of our societies

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

CSA News

Volume

61

Issue

7

Publisher

American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America

Publication Date

6-29-2016

First Page

28

Last Page

30

Abstract

I became a member of SSSA in the early 1980s when I was a graduate student. I have been a member ever since, have attended most Annual Meetings, and participated in Society governance. My graduate adviser had stressed to me how important professional identity and affiliation with SSSA was to my career trajectory. I believed him unconditionally. Decades later, professional societies are struggling to bring in new members. It is true that technology has generated different tools for networking, information gathering, and knowledge dissemination. This does not explain, however, why so few students, especially women, are willing to follow in our footsteps professionally. Indeed, although women comprise about one-third of the student members in three Societies, they account for only 10 to 17% of active memberships (McIntosh and Simmons, 2008)

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS