Inclusion Of Women Does Not Mean Exclusion Of Men

Of Men The impetus for this commentary came in the way of a thank-you note from a male science leader to whom I recently sent a complimentary membership in the Association for Women in Science (AWIS). As part of its 25th-anniversary celebration, which is taking place this year, AWIS offered memberships to several leaders in science and technology who continually demonstrate a strong commitment to gender equity. From the note I could see that my colleague was pleasantly surprised; it never occurred to him that he could be a member of AWIS. "I suppose that's some kind of reverse sexism on my part," he wrote.

Now, I know that this man is not sexist, reverse or otherwise. But I do suspect that there are many others like him who have not thought about joining AWIS because they believe it is a women's organization. As such, they assume men are not ...