Under One Sky: the IAU and Women in Astronomy

Abstract

Of all the sciences, astronomy is by far the most border-less in its activities, and the most advanced in its concepts of collaborating across borders. In their dealings and in their needs, today’s teams are mature enough to ignore gender differences and ethnic differences, and across the past 50+ years of IAU membership which I personally can chalk up, the IAU personnel, Commissions, and other bodies have come to reflect more nearly the same – albeit small – gender ratios as found in its member institutions. In the IAU there has always been space for the individual, and if one recalls the early contributions to the IAU by major players like Edith M¨uller, Giusa Cayrel, Anne Underhill and Charlotte Moore, I think it can be said that astronomy was, and knew it was, better off by giving such people the latitude that they deserved as scientists, rather than because they were women. When a meeting in Baltimore in 1992 was called to discuss “Women in Astronomy”, the pressure came from the younger generations, who feared that the low percentages of tenured women in astronomy would be allowed to continue unnoticed, so they created the Baltimore Charter to draw attention to what certainly appeared to some as discrimination. Even though there could be no quick fixes to the situation, and the winds of change have been more like zephyrs than the cleansing gales that some hoped for, the percentage of women now rising through the ranks is definitely on the increase, and is witnessing growing ethnic diversity. Those are a matter of pride for the IAU, and must be highlighted in this its Centenary Year.