Thread by @ftmaestre

Now that #IWD2021 #8M has passed it is a good moment to reflect on what I am doing to make academia a more inclusive and egalitarian place (and on what I could do better), so here is a recopilation of measures that I am doing, which perhaps could inspire/help others 🧵

1) Ensure that my lab is a flexible, healthy, people-centered and family-friendly workplace where harassment/discrimination of any form is not tolerated maestrelab.com/en/lab-philoso… My actions for doing so are summarized in these 10 rules 👇journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/a…

2) Help to visibilize the work of my female colleagues. Actions for doing so include nominating them to prizes, participating in awareness campaigns and launching the Women in dryland science list maestrelab.com/en/women-in-dr…

3) Using part of my funds to create programs specifically tailored to support the work of female early career scientists working in Africa

https://twitter.com/ftmaestre/status/1333802269230338054

4) Implementing active policies to having a gender-balanced lab and to recruit more women, particularly at the postdoc levels. These include prioritizing women when directly hiring and supporting only female candidates in competitive calls

https://twitter.com/ftmaestre/status/1335506559443623936

5) Advocating for creating healthy, discrimination-free research environments beyond my lab via lectures, interviews, op pieces and articles. Lately I have been also discussing with managers and policy makers how to effectively implement them in practice (+ details soon!)

6) Inviting female coauthors and leading authors to be part of reviews I am leading and when editing special issues for journals (so these issues are gender balanced). I always provide a gender-balanced list when suggesting alternative reviewers to journals. And

7) Inviting female colleagues when looking for collaborators for projects and global surveys & 8) Advocating for women and never penalizing maternity when reviewing applications and in panels. These are some of my daily actions to make academia a more egalitarian place

Things that I could do better? Having more female coauthors and collaborators, minimize gender-biased references in my own papers and learning more about my inherent biases, so I can correct them, are on top of my to-do list.