A powerful statement by a group of renowned scientists makes substantive recommendations for policies that protect, advance, and support women in the sciences. Lead author Nobel laureate Carol Greider, along with 11 others, make clear that the barriers and mistreatment that women face are no longer tolerable. They propose rational policies that would go a long way toward improving our environments and levelling the playing field. The biggest leap, requiring governmental action, is the recommendation to create programs, similar to those for scientific misconduct, to tackle issues of sexual misconduct, including the requirements to disclose investigator’s harassment findings and settlements when applying for funding or employment. Addressing the biases and the circumstances that de-rail women’s careers, they also delineate several common-sense institutional policies (work-life balance policies, transparency in rewards and recruitment systems, mentorship, protection from retaliation). These are within our power to implement in our own institutions. Yet, we know that such policies may pass through bureaucracy at a snail’s pace, their effectiveness often going un-monitored, and their inculcation into our institutional cultures hard to ensure. Programs like Athena-Swan (UK), Dimensions (Canada), and now in the United States, SeaChange (AAAS), offer an opportunity to hasten this progress. Through self-study, accountability, peer-review, and dissemination of best practices, these systemic approaches offer one visible way to ensure ongoing institutional progress and commitment to an enduring change, so we can finally fully engage the talent that is needed to solve today’s and tomorrow’s problems.
