Astro2020 APC White Paper: Findings and Recommendations from the AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy: Towards Eliminating Harassment in Astronomy

TL;DR

This white paper urges U.S. federal science funding agencies to take leadership in eliminating harassment in astronomy workplaces by implementing policies, reporting mechanisms, and anti-harassment training, aiming for significant cultural change by 2030.

Contribution

It provides specific policy recommendations for federal agencies to combat harassment in astronomy, emphasizing accountability, reporting, and prevention strategies.

Findings

Harassment is prevalent and damaging in astronomy workplaces.

Enhanced policies and training can improve harassment reporting and prevention.

Federal agency actions are crucial for cultural change in astronomy.

Abstract

The Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (CSWA) is calling on federal science funding agencies, in their role as the largest sources of funding for astronomy in the United States, to take actions that will end harassment, particularly sexual harassment, in astronomical workplaces. Funding agencies can and should lead the charge to end harassment in astronomy by the 2030 Astrophysics Decadal Survey. Anecdotal and quantitative evidence, gathered both by the CSWA and other groups, shows that harassment is prevalent and damaging for women and minority astronomers and those in related fields. Actions recommended herein will increase the rate of reporting of harassment to agencies and improve their ability to investigate and take action against harassers. We also recommend that agencies participate in harassment prevention by creating and implementing the best anti-harassment education possible. Key recommendations are: - Federal agencies should improve their ethics policies by making harassment a form of scientific misconduct. - Federal agencies should mandate that institutions report to them when a funded Principal Investigator (PI) or co-Principal Investigator (co-PI) is found to be a perpetrator of harassment. - Federal funding agencies should provide online guides to help scientists identify harassment and connect them to the right resources for making confidential or official reports. - Federal agencies should create and ensure the implementation of anti-harassment trainings by making them a requirement of receiving grant funding.