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Projects Sponsored by CWSA characterization of statisticians by gender in several countries Introduction Following the committee's first meeting in August 1997, work started on a project whose aim was to arrive at what can be briefly described as "relative characterizations of women statisticians". The characterizations were to be derived from information on men and women statisticians obtained by local teams in a number of countries in which women members of the ISI or its Sections resided. Following the committee's first meeting in August 1997, work started on a project whose aim was to arrive at what can be briefly described as "relative characterizations of women statisticians". The characterizations were to be derived from information on men and women statisticians obtained by local teams in a number of countries in which women members of the ISI or its Sections resided. In each participating country information on men and women statisticians was to be obtained on four categorical variables: Field of Study, Sector of Statistical Activity, Level of Responsibility, and Income Scale. This information would then be converted into 12 indicators in the form of ratios or proportions - thus protecting the confidentiality of information, and making it possible to eventually arrive at comparable country profiles. Some general information about each country was also required as part of the country's final report. In each participating country information on men and women statisticians was to be obtained on four categorical variables: Field of Study, Sector of Statistical Activity, Level of Responsibility, and Income Scale. This information would then be converted into 12 indicators in the form of ratios or proportions - thus protecting the confidentiality of information, and making it possible to eventually arrive at comparable country profiles. Some general information about each country was also required as part of the country's final report. This ambitious project was initially proposed and coordinated by committee member Lelia Boeri de Cervetto with the collaboration of Celina Curti and Alicia Masautis. They were later joined by Mirta Veron and Maria Nieves Garcia - all of Buenos Aires, Argentina. This General Coordinating Group, with Lelia Cervetto as principal coordinator, functioned entirely on a volunteer basis, as did the local coordinator in each country. Contact with local coordinators was maintained through the offices of Argentina's Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Censos (INDEC), which provided the coordination group with office space, personnel assistance and communications facilities. Without this generous support by INDEC, and the dedication of the coordinators, this project would not have been possible. The principal coordinator, Lelia Boeri de Cervetto, presented a brief summary of the general coordinating group's report at the committee's open meeting in Helsinki, Finland, on August 12, 1999. The final report entitled "A Characterization of Statisticians by Gender in Several Countries", was presented by Lelia at the committee's open meeting in Seoul, on August 23, 2001. Copies of the full printed report may be obtained from lcervetto@arnet.com.ar Experiences of women statisticians in professional life The ISI Committee on Women in Statistics, in consultation with the full ISI committee, decided in early July 2001 that Dr. Beverley Carlson, Chair of ISI CWS, would organize a session on the Experiences of Women Statisticians in Professional Life, with more focus on women statisticians working in the private sector. Beverley Carlson suggested that one of the papers would be on the experience of women statisticians connected with the drug development business and would be presented by Dr. Sheela Talwalker, former Director of Clinical Statistics at Pharmacia. By the end of November 2001, Beverley Carlson’s proposal for the session was accepted. In early February 2002, Sheela Talwalker started preparing a survey questionnaire with the help of co-author Sonali T. Sikchi. It was thoroughly reviewed by Beverley Carlson and Dr. Nanjamma Chinnappa and Dr. Mary Regier, current and former ISI CWS website editors, and was revised as per their suggestions. Due to the constraints on time and money, it was planned to host the survey on the ISI CWS website, and women statisticians working in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and Clinical Research Organizations were contacted via e-mail. Contacting all the women statisticians in the drug industry the United States was a stupendous task in view of two facts: Firstly, there are more than 3500 drug companies and secondly, company management would not divulge their employees’ e-mail addresses. Therefore, the principal author Sheela Talwalker decided to obtain a convenience sample of members of the biopharmaceutical section of the American Statistical Association. The ASA authorities very graciously agreed to e-mail a personal appeal, with a link to the questionnaire on the ISI CWS website, to their biopharmaceutical section members after it was reviewed by the Chair of the ASA Survey Committee. Accordingly, Dr. Sally Greenberg, the official e-mail list moderator forwarded the personal appeal to all the members in September 2002. This personal appeal explained that the focus of the survey was to understand the challenges and problems faced by women statisticians working in the drug industry in the United States with emphasis on: evaluating the opportunities they get for career growth and their satisfaction with management help in achieving it, participation in management and strategic decisions, contribution to leadership in drug development process and the recognition they receive for their contributions, overall representation and vertical movement, and the status of the minorities in the industry. This method of communication by forwarding the personal appeal and link to the survey emphasized upon preserving the anonymity of the respondents with the expectation of receiving honest and candid responses. This ambitious project was initiated and managed by the principal author Sheela Talwalker and was completed with great help from Sohan Talwalker, and Ank Lepping. The authors are very thankful to them. The authors are also thankful to Beverley Carlson, Nanjamma Chinnappa, Mary Regier, and Dr. William Smith, Director of Administrative Services of ASA for all their help and support. The results and analyses of the survey were presented by the principal author Sheela Talwalker in the session Experiences of Women Statisticians in Professional life on August 16, 2003 at the 54th session of ISI in Berlin. - The complete report can be accessed here
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