Women in Reproductive Sciences (WinRS) Committee
I am excited to announce that SSR Board voted to make the “Women in Reproductive Sciences” (WinRS) a full standing SSR committee. WinRS was established as a Diversity subcommittee in 2015 by Drs. Kate Loveland and Annie Newell-Fugate to support the development and advancement of trainee, associate and regular female members in the Society. Increasing commentary and debate on gender disparities in science have identified several challenges facing women seeking a professional career in academia. These challenges include unequal hiring practices, disparity in earnings, and biases in grant funding and publishing; these challenges will likely be amplified from the Covid-19 pandemic.
As the new Co-Chairs of WinRS, we look forward to continuing to develop this critical committee by listening to and serving the needs of our Society’s female scientists. Our goals in leading WinRS are to:
- Encourage and support nominations of women for SSR Board and Executive roles
- Encourage and support nominations for women for Major SSR awards
- Promote networking between and on behalf of female SSR members
- Highlight the achievements and careers of female members of the Society
- Organize an event at the annual SSR meeting to raise awareness about the challenges facing women in academia
- Maintain social media presence through publishing bulletins, Facebook and Twitter posts
Are you interested in joining WinRS? If you indicated that you are female in your membership profile, the good news is is that you already are! But, we would love to hear from you. Support from our male colleagues is just as critical. We encourage and hope that our male colleagues will sign up too. Please let us know of your membership interest by emailing ssrwinrs@gmail.com.
WinRS Co-Chairs
Karen Schindler Heather Fice
