Gender exclusion from space to the field

2016/02/22 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Etika
• Astrofisika
• Giza zientziak

The fact that gravitational waves have made everyone rely on astrophysics, can be a good time to remember an astrophysicist: Joan Schmelz. She researches the physics of the Sun at the Arecibo Observatory (Puerto Rico) and the prestigious scientific journal Nature included it in the list of the top ten scientists of 2015 for her "voice to women".

In fact, in 2011, when she was a PhD student at the University of Berkeley, Schmelz suffered sexual harassment. Depressed, he denounced his situation in the blog Women in Astronomy. The attacker was the prestigious astronomer Geoffrey Marcy. Although he concealed his name on the blog, other students and researchers contacted Schemelz and confided that they were also persecuted. In all cases Marcy was the aggressor. Thus, driven by Schmelz, they joined and denounced Marcy.

Although at first the complaint had no consequences, then Berkeley ordered the investigation and Marcy resigned it. Schmelz did not stay there and has since been engaged in combating gender exclusion in a special committee of the Astronomical Society of the United States. Its goal is to change the system.

It is not an easy task, since machismo has many intensities and forms. One of them is known by a group of field researchers in solitary places, through the journal Nature (once again): the discomfort that causes them menstruation. Or, better said, the discomfort that causes them to work in environments and conditions designed for men and only for men when they have a rule. "Being a woman should not hide or change anything," she says. And no, what needs to be changed is the system.

Published in the newspaper Berria.