Statement on Gender Balance at SAS2022
Promoting the gender balance is critical for the future of science. It allows that young women, men and others can see real evidence that scientists can be successful despite of gender. Among the opportunities, conferences and symposia are great ways of generating new collaborations and new ideas. By extending the speaking invitation opportunities to women and other under-represented sections of the academic community, we provide a boost to their visibility and their track record (Martin JL (2014) PLoS Comput Biol 10(11), e1003903. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003903.) As part of this initiative, the current committee proposes measures to ensure the gender balance and to promote the engagement of women in the SAS community, considering all the stages of their careers.
From the event organization
- A person in charge of the gender balance (gender balance advisor) has been appointed to analyze and ensure a fair gender balance.
- The conference Scientific Program Committee was assembled to comply with the gender balance.
- We have collected the statistics on men, women and other attending previous SAS conferences to set gender balance aims and to analyze evolution of the community.
- Based on the statistics, the gender balance will be sought:
a) for plenary speakers;
b) for session chairs;
c) for students receiving the conference financial support, to cover subscription fees.
Since the statistics are an average among different fields, in cases where the balance is not followed, it should be provided a report of names considered that explains the <30% to the organizing committee.
- Accompanying attendees for people with children will be issued at no extra cost. However, we encourage people not to travel with children due to the COVID-19 crisis.
- A dedicated tab at SAS2022 webpage will be describing the organization issues related to gender balance. By the end of the event the speaker statistics mentioned at this document will be made public via the website.
- After the conference, these initiatives will be critically analyzed, and a report will be provided to the organizing committee in order to evaluate the outcome and possible ways of improving the initiatives.
- Finally, the goal is to purpose a survey gathering all the statistics of the current event that can feed future SAS conferences and evaluate the gender balance progression in the community.
SAS2022 Organizing Committee