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Caucus for Women in Statistics Celebrates 50 Years

1 December 2021 1,011 views No Comment
Donna Brogan, Nairanjana Dasgupta, Amanda Golbeck, Wendy Lou, and Motomi Mori

The JEDI Corner is a regular component of Amstat News in which statisticians write about and educate our community about JEDI-related matters. If you have an idea or article for the column, email JEDI Outreach Group member Cathy Furlong.

The Caucus for Women in Statistics (CWS) is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Formed in 1971 before “JEDI” became an acronym known to all, CWS has been on the forefront of giving a voice to women in statistics and offering support, mentorship, friendship, and a safe space for discussion about challenging and often difficult topics faced by women.

The Past

It all started with Donna Brogan and a group of courageous women realizing there was a need for women in statistics to have a voice. The following excerpt is Brogan’s story about how it started, which she shared parts of during the JSM 2021 session, “Celebrating the 50-Year History of the Caucus for Women in Statistics: Origins, Accomplishments, and Challenges.”

In 1967, I received my PhD in statistics from Iowa State University and accepted an offer of assistant professor of biostatistics at The University of North Carolina School of Public Health. I found myself on a steep learning curve about living and working in the professional middle class, a stark contrast to my working-class family background.

In addition, I joined a women’s liberation consciousness-raising group in the late 1960s in Chapel Hill; these women profoundly influenced my life. I finally realized that accumulated prior episodes of sex discrimination in my life were not personal or unique to me but part of society’s structure, including rigid sex roles for women/girls and men/boys. Several group members had formed a women’s caucus in their own career fields. I followed their example and decided that a women’s caucus was needed in statistics, a male-dominated discipline at the time.

At the Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) in New York City in summer 1969, I attached flyers to the inside stall doors of women’s bathrooms in the meeting hotel, asking women who were interested in discussing a possible women’s caucus to meet in my hotel room. Seven to 10 women attended over three evenings and agreed that a caucus was needed. Afterwards, Dr. Anita Bahn and I discussed with John W. Lehman, then executive director of the American Statistical Association [ASA], our interest in forming a women’s caucus to be affiliated with ASA; he was very supportive.

At the December 1970 JSM in Detroit, joint with societies in economics, about 40–50 persons attended a meeting to discuss details of a caucus vision, mission, and structure. We decided to focus the planned caucus on statistics and recommended that the American Economic Association form its own women’s caucus. In May 1971, the ASA Board of Directors recognized the Women’s Caucus as an affiliated nonprofit organization, including participation in JSM (e.g., an invited paper session and space for a business meeting).

The Women’s Caucus made its official debut at the August 1971 JSM in Fort Collins, Colorado. Its sponsored invited paper session focused on equal opportunity for women in employment, with a lively question and answer session among 150 attendees. … I served as caucus president for three calendar years, 1971 thru 1973. … Our initial name was Women’s Caucus. I don’t remember when the name was changed to Caucus for Women in Statistics (CWS), but I like the current name better.”

When CWS was founded in 1971, Donna and her cohort naïvely thought its life would be time bound. They assumed gender discrimination in statistics, employment, career development, mentoring, promotion, and recognition would soon be gone. Fifty years later, we take stock and realize that, although much progress has been made, discrimination still happens under different shapes. Hence, CWS has emerged as an advocacy group for women and other underrepresented groups and is vocal in the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) drive.

The Present and Future

CWS is a self-reliant advocacy group and works across several organizations without being part of any. It partners with the ASA and often works closely with the Committee on Women in Statistics (COWIS) within the ASA.

CWS also has ties with other statistical organizations such as the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, Statistical Society of Canada, International Statistical Institute, International Biometric Society, and International Chinese Statistical Association. It has played important roles in establishing the Gertrude M. Cox Scholarship, COPSS Florence Nightingale David Award, JSM First-Time Attendee Orientation, and Women in Statistics and Data Science Conference (WSDS). It also works every year to help increase the proportion of ASA Fellows who are women.

In the last few years, several awards have been established, including travel awards to help women attend conferences. Wendy Lou, 2020 CWS president, created the CWS Societal Impact Award to recognize statisticians whose contributions have influenced communities at large in terms of advancing social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion through their research, teaching, or service.

Adding to the celebration of the CWS 50th anniversary this year, the first CWS Societal Impact Award winner was announced during the CWS business meeting at JSM 2021. Melody S. Goodman, a professor at New York University, was the inaugural recipient of the award. Her citation reads as follows: “For her outstanding dedication to improving health disparities through education in public health and data literacy.”

In an effort to remember and honor the past while staying current in their mission, Tomi Mori, 2021 CWS president, initiated monthly Madam Presidents Happy Hour hosted by past presidents. It is open to all and allows those who participate to get to know past CWS presidents and connect with others. Further, the CWS Past Presidents Interview Series is on YouTube.

CWS has provided great role models for women in statistics. About three-quarters of prior caucus presidents are ASA Fellows. The caucus leadership is becoming more diverse in terms of racial and ethnic backgrounds, mirroring the growing diversity within our profession.

There is still more to do to advance women in statistics. The October 2021 issue of Amstat News shows that, among recipients of doctoral degrees in statistics and biostatistics, the percentage who are women was slightly below 40 percent in 2020 while women make up less than 20 percent of doctorate earners in the computer sciences, physics, and mechanical engineering. The ASA 2020 Work and Salary Survey shows that more men than women are full professors (43 percent vs. 25 percent) and tenured (55 percent vs. 32 percent). And women in all sectors tend to make less, both in base salary and total employment income.

Join Us

CWS provides a forum for sharing stories. As Arlene Ash, 1986 CWS president, stated, “The Caucus for Women in Statistics is a safe space to speak out and be women, but not be entirely separate from the rest of the professional community.” She also said, “The Caucus for Women in Statistics must continue to help us address questions of particular interest to women while welcoming their partners and all fellow travelers who support our goals.”

The Caucus is a 501(c)(3) organization (following the US Internal Revenue Code), a nonprofit organization established for charitable, educational, and/or scientific purposes. All who are interested in the CWS mission are welcome to join. Visit the CWS website for more information or contact Jessica Kohlschmidt, CWS executive director.

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