Recommended Actions for the American Astronomical Society: CSWA's Perspective on Steps for a more Inclusive Astronomy -- II. Recommendations

TL;DR

This paper offers 26 specific recommendations for the American Astronomical Society to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion, focusing on harassment prevention, career advancement for underrepresented groups, and improving meeting accessibility.

Contribution

It presents a comprehensive set of actionable steps based on surveys, literature, and community input to transform astronomy into a more inclusive profession.

Findings

Development of 26 specific actions for AAS

Strategies to reduce harassment and bullying

Recommendations to improve career development and meeting accessibility

Abstract

This paper, the second in a series of two, provides a set of recommendations that the American Astronomical Society (AAS) can take to create a more diverse and inclusive professional society for astronomers, with a focus on women astronomers. As noted in Paper I, now is the time for the AAS to take decisive action to transform astronomy into a diverse and inclusive profession. By combining the results of our 2019 survey, which is described in Paper I, peer-reviewed academic literature, and findings from many of the white papers submitted to Astro2020, the CSWA has developed 26 specific actions the AAS can take to help end harassment and bullying in astronomy; advance career development for astronomers who are women, members of other underrepresented groups, and intersections of these populations; and improve the climate and culture of AAS meetings. Actions to reduce rates of harassment and bullying include improvements to the AAS's anti-harassment policies and procedures and the development of astronomy-specific anti-harassment training resources. Actions to advance career development include creating a compensation database, improving how jobs are posted in the AAS Job Register, and supporting/enhancing a distance mentorship program. Finally, we call on the AAS to continue improving the accessibility of AAS meetings and to continue to support meeting sessions whose focus is to discuss issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion.