3rd Meeting of the IWISE Working Group – February 2016

Thank you to Ford Foundation for hosting the meeting.

Goal: Implement the institutional report card for gender equality
NYSCF convened the third meeting of IWISE Working Group on February 1, 2016 for a daylong summit, which was hosted by the Ford Foundation in New York City. The meeting focused on the implementation of the gender equality report card, developed out of the first two meetings.

The meeting brought together an expanded and diversified group of individuals. The members hailed from New York City, Washington D.C., Michigan, and Boston, among others. They represented multiple career stages, from newly minted assistant professors to seasoned institutional leaders. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s office was represented at the meeting, along with a host of biomedical research funders, deans and academic leaders, and leaders with groups and institutions at the forefront of advocating for gender equality in science. Both men and women participated in the discussions.

The meeting was co-chaired by Susan L. Solomon, CEO and founder of The New York Stem Cell Foundation and Paola Arlotta, Harvard University.

The group spent the day developing a plan for assessing institutional progress with respect to gender equality practices, outlining a plan for communicating the report card findings back to institutions, devising methods to share best practices in gender equality, and creating a strategy to get other funders on board to incorporate the institutional report card into their extramural programs. The group also began a discussion on the representation of women on corporate boards and in commercial activities and how they could start working to combat the underrepresentation.