First Woman
The first woman employed by the Forest Service as a lookout was Hallie M. Daggett, who started work at Eddy’s Gulch Lookout Station atop Klamath Peak (Klamath NF) in the summer of 1913 (she worked as lookout for 14 years).
I have been saving this article from PNAS in October for an appropriate day:
Science faculty’s subtle gender biases favor male students.
Moss-Racusin CA, Dovidio JF, Brescoll VL, Graham MJ, Handelsman J.
Source
Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
Abstract
Despite efforts to recruit and retain more women, a stark gender disparity persists within academic science. Abundant research has demonstrated gender bias in many demographic groups, but has yet to experimentally investigate whether science faculty exhibit a bias against female students that could contribute to the gender disparity in academic science. In a randomized double-blind study (n = 127), science faculty from research-intensive universities rated the application materials of a student-who was randomly assigned either a male or female name-for a laboratory manager position. Faculty participants rated the male applicant as significantly more competent and hireable than the (identical) female applicant. These participants also selected a higher starting salary and offered more career mentoring to the male applicant. The gender of the faculty participants did not affect responses, such that female and male faculty were equally likely to exhibit bias against the female student. Mediation analyses indicated that the female student was less likely to be hired because she was viewed as less competent. We also assessed faculty participants’ preexisting subtle bias against women using a standard instrument and found that preexisting subtle bias against women played a moderating role, such that subtle bias against women was associated with less support for the female student, but was unrelated to reactions to the male student. These results suggest that interventions addressing faculty gender bias might advance the goal of increasing the participation of women in science.
My point being that when we give special preference to “science”, we need to understand who it is who decides what problems to fund, what disciplines to fund, and so on and how broadly that group represents different kinds of people and their interests. That’s why I think the discipline of sociology of science is to important to track for all of us who work with scientific products.
Today might be a good day to give a shout out to the women who are working with you in a business that is not always easy.. Mine is to Chief Gail Kimbell, who was the first woman Chief- I wish she would write her story like Chief Thomas did.
Just a minor correction. Eddy Gulch Lookout is located on Blue Ridge, not Klamath Peak, on the Salmon River Ranger District. The Hallie Daggett cabin and interpretive site is located in the town of Etna.