Friday Social Media BliNtz (Week 2)

Welcome to week two of the Friday Social Media BliNtz— like a blitz but tastier.

So, this week in the media, the social and the science intersect when Harvard med student Ilana Yurkiewicz blogs about a groundbreaking study lead by Corinne Moss-Racusin and colleagues, which reveals that gender bias in science is real. 

An important take-away from Yurkiewicz’s analysis in the Scientific American: Both male and female scientists were equally guilty of committing gender bias. But there is hope! Yurkiewicz writes:“As troubling as these results are, they are also critical toward solutions. That biases against women are often subconscious means people need extra prodding to realize and combat them. I’m willing to bet that many in the study, just like people who take Implicit Association Tests, would be upset to learn they subconsciously discriminate against women, and they would want to fix it. Implicit biases cannot be overcome until they are realized, and this study accomplishes that key first step: awareness.”

JWA has extensively chronicled women in science—women who carved their way during a time when the field was far more inhospitable and far less aware. Whether your interest is in physics or biology, chemistry or anatomy you can check out these trailblazing women ——simply scroll through the list of topics and single click on “science.” Some women to spotlight: geneticist Batsheva Bonne-Tamir, who for over 40 years has studied genetic markers and disease among different population groups in Israel; nuclear physicist Marietta Blau who received recommendation from Albert Einstein; biologist and geneticist Raissa Berg defender of human rights in the Soviet Union, as well as an abstract painter and writer.

Yesterday The Huffington Post reported that former president Clinton, Bill and Melinda Gates, and NYC Mayor Bloomberg announced that contraception prices in developing nations will be halved. This follows a July Family Planning Summit in which 4.6 billion was dedicated to family planning. Melinda Gates has stated that family planning costs approximately one-sixth of what is spent on housing, health care, and public services. That really puts things in perspective.

For a tight historical perspective on the birth control movement on our own soil from the 1870’s to the 1960’s check out our encyclopedia article. Hats off to our foremothers who championed reproductive rights on our behalf-- Sanger, Goldman, Levine, Moses-- making it possible for us to determine when and how we want to be mothers ourselves.