Random Bullets of Meeting: the feminists' edition

• There were fewer children at this meeting than at the super casual conference I sometimes attend, but more than at the super stuffy one. I tried to give lots of smiles when I saw people with kids so they would feel like at least some of us think this is a welcome occurrence. There was a conference babysitting service at $7 per hour. If there were ever children in the sessions, I was never disturbed by them.
• I overheard a man with a child in a stroller explaining to another man that people didn't seem to mind his kid at this meeting. He also said that at the last meeting to which he brought the kid (the one with the stuffy old men in blazers), he received many disapproving looks.
• I overheard a woman saying that female convention center staff had been extremely rude to her when she asked where she could pump. She ended up asking a different staff worker, a man, who very courteously led her to the first aid room where she pumped in privacy.
• I went to an all women mixer where I met a few nice people in fields utterly unrelated to mine, but also got to have a lengthy conversation with a few women who are in my field who I had never talked to before. That was great.
• The session my talk was in was organized by two women. Nine of the 11 invited speakers were men. There were also contributed papers (like mine), some of which were given by women. While historically male dominated, my field has many, many more women than most sciences, especially those of the non-biomedical or straight-ecology sort. There are even some women who are senior level, very appropriate candidates for invited talks. I think 2 out of 11 invited talks by women is pretty lousy. Especially for a session organized by women.