Welcome from Debra Elmegreen, IAU President to the Women in Astronomy (WiA) WG

I am delighted to welcome you all to a new triennium of the IAU. This monthly newsletter is a great way to keep your large Working Group informed and engaged. I started the AASWomen 1 electronic newsletter of the American Astronomical Society 30 years ago, and found that it was critical in communicating concerns, raising awareness, and uniting women and men in the cause for equality. The International Science Council Gender Gap study 2 that the IAU participated in underscores the fact that there remain many issues of concern for women in astronomy and other sciences. These include mentoring, career prospects, retention and advancement, training, role models, spousal and childcare issues, and harassment. Such topics of course apply to men as well, but the fact that our numbers have not reached equity means that we still need to have a WG to focus on improving conditions for women. It is encouraging to see that about 35% of our IAU Junior Members are female, a big increase compared with about 21% among all Individual Members. One goal is to improve the pipeline. I’m impressed by all of the activities your Organizing Committee is planning and considering, and hope that you will take this opportunity to contribute to the WG efforts that interest you the most. Make sure your voice is heard, because we all need to work together to make astronomy the welcome and inclusive field we want it to be. I especially look forward to your WG meetings being planned for the General Assembly in Busan in August 2022.

Message from the chair of the WiA Working Group (WG)

Dear Women in Astronomy Working Group members, 

Welcome to the IAU Women in Astronomy Working Group!


After the successful IAU XXXI, 2021 General Assembly virtual meeting held in the last week of August 2021, (Mamta Pommier- Chair) and Priya Hasan (Co-Chair) warmly welcome you to the Women in Astronomy Working Group of the IAU. We are thankful to Dara Norman (Chair), Lydia Sonia Cidale (Co-Chair), Francesca Primas (Advisor), and Daniela Lazzaro (Executive Committee Liaison) for their excellent efforts and support for this working group in the last triennium. We would also like to thank the outgoing committee (OC) members- Lydia Sonia Cidale, Thomas J. Millar, Karen Pollard, Francesca Primas, Theresa Rank-Lueftinger, Ginevra Trinchieri, Feilu Wang, Patricia Ann Whitelock, for their support and help with organizing the WiA WG activities during the last triennium. We are truly thankful for, Dara’s work as WG chair (current Advisor) and for all the reports, documents, and presentations she has circulated among us and Daniela’s insightful advice, as to the EC Liaison (on-going), during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic phase. We will continue to provide such updated documents, news, and reports to the WG members.

In the next triennium, we will focus on the difficulties (bias, reduced career prospects, leaky pipeline and lacking role models, childcare issues, harassment, discrimination, unfair working conditions) faced by Women in Astronomy, help bridge the gender gap in Astronomy and STEM fields, and help the careers of women researchers and young women Ph.D. students worldwide. To achieve these objectives, we are looking forward, to working with the WG Advisor, EC Liaison, Organizing committee members, WG members, and the IAU offices. We will present the WG activities and achievements at the two general assembly meetings due in the next triennium, in Busan, August 2022, and Cape Town, August 2024. We welcome your ideas during these events, in addition to the seminars, workshops, surveys, training programs that we aim to organize. Please do not hesitate to contact us with your queries or suggestions.

Finally, I am honored to serve as the Chair of this WG and looking forward to working with all of you and the IAU members with dynamism and team spirit. As open communication is important to develop close collaboration in any large geographically distributed WG such as ours hence, we have come up with the IAU-WiA monthly newsletter and ‘ENSEMBLE’ quarterly magazine along with other communication channels that you will find on the homepage. 

We especially draw your attention to the ‘call for participation’ announced in this webpage to foster the exchange of ideas and expertise within the WG and develop activities together for the next triennium. 

We wish you all the best in your work and looking forward to working with you. 

Stay safe and happy reading! 


Mamta Pommier

on behalf of the IAU Women in Astronomy WG