WICS History and Purpose
WICS was born as a result of casual conversations among a small group of assistant professors. These women were puzzled by their perception that qualified women working in their area of research seemed to be dropping out of the discipline at a higher rate than men. They were concerned that the small numbers of women in their field did not seem to be improving at an adequate rate, so they agreed to invite some other women to gather at the 2001 annual meeting of the American Political Science Association to brainstorm about what they could do to help alter this trend. Eight faculty members participated in this initial meeting.
The group discussed a number of societal and institutional explanations that can help to account for the low numbers of women following and succeeding in this career path. They agreed that discipline-wide and university-wide women's caucuses are strong advocates for policy change on issues that disproportionately affect women. There was also agreement, however, that networking, support, and mentoring make a big difference in the probability that women choose to continue in academia and that providing opportunities for networking and mentoring was a role that a small group of women working in a similar research area could play. Their solution was WICS.
In essence, the primary goal of WICS is to help integrate women into the profession early, and to provide women with an additional source of contacts working in the same general research area with whom they can collaborate and exchange feedback on their work, as well as gain advice on professional matters, both gender related and non-gender related. Since 2001, we have hosted gatherings at major conferences at least twice per year. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, we began offering virtual professional development sessions. We also maintain a listserv that is open for discussion and serves as a venue to disseminate information about our events and other opportunities.
Our members are women who study international conflict and cooperation. Most are affiliated with political science or international studies departments at academic institutions. Many are also members of the International Studies Association and/or the American Political Science Association. As of July, 2023 our listserv has 1096 subscribers.
We believe that a sense of community is important in integrating young women into our profession, and that women who have the opportunity to get to know other women working in their area of research are more likely to be both successful and satisfied. WICS hopes to complement the variety of venues available for professional socialization, networking, and mentoring by providing another outlet aimed to encourage and support the participation of women in our field.
The group discussed a number of societal and institutional explanations that can help to account for the low numbers of women following and succeeding in this career path. They agreed that discipline-wide and university-wide women's caucuses are strong advocates for policy change on issues that disproportionately affect women. There was also agreement, however, that networking, support, and mentoring make a big difference in the probability that women choose to continue in academia and that providing opportunities for networking and mentoring was a role that a small group of women working in a similar research area could play. Their solution was WICS.
In essence, the primary goal of WICS is to help integrate women into the profession early, and to provide women with an additional source of contacts working in the same general research area with whom they can collaborate and exchange feedback on their work, as well as gain advice on professional matters, both gender related and non-gender related. Since 2001, we have hosted gatherings at major conferences at least twice per year. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, we began offering virtual professional development sessions. We also maintain a listserv that is open for discussion and serves as a venue to disseminate information about our events and other opportunities.
Our members are women who study international conflict and cooperation. Most are affiliated with political science or international studies departments at academic institutions. Many are also members of the International Studies Association and/or the American Political Science Association. As of July, 2023 our listserv has 1096 subscribers.
We believe that a sense of community is important in integrating young women into our profession, and that women who have the opportunity to get to know other women working in their area of research are more likely to be both successful and satisfied. WICS hopes to complement the variety of venues available for professional socialization, networking, and mentoring by providing another outlet aimed to encourage and support the participation of women in our field.