Lack of confidence or an accurate perception of the situation?:
Great article over at the AAAS’s Science site on Nurturing Women Scientists delves into why women are still largely absent in the upper echelons of academic employment despite achieving parity in the lower rungs of education and training.

Geek Girls Kick Ass:
Many of the essays in She’s Such a Geek: Women Write About Science, Technology & Other Nerdy Stuff (put out in 2006 by our friends at Seal Press) echo the findings discussed in the Science article. I recommend this anthology to anyone –female or male, techie geek or hopeless luddite- for true tales from women currently working on the front lines of the scientific frontier who daily navigate the gender gap while attempting to maintain the elusive work-life balance.

For women who want to write about science, technology, and other nerdy stuff:
While perusing the Science and Technology section of this week’s Economist I came across a posting for a cool summer internship in London, the Richard Casement Internship, an interesting opportunity for budding science & tech reporters.  Applicants must be 25 and under and the application deadline is February 22, so if you know any young aspiring diva journalistas (or are one yourself) tell them to apply post-haste.

In the series we’ll profile women who are pushing the intellectual envelope, and we’ll provide a map for those interested in pursuing a career in science, math, engineering and technology.  As always, we’ll endeavor to capture the grit, realities and passions of the ladies who are doing fieldwork all over the globe.  Watch our site in 2008 for profiles and the full 411 on the series. 

Until then (and continuing our cold theme) you might be interested in a new anthology that just came over our transom, Antarctica: Life on the Ice edited by Susan Fox Rogers.  Yesterday we tuned in for a live-from-McMurdo interview with some of the contributors who reported on global warming, other-worldly silence, and the unique community of intrepid explorers and scientists that forms way down under. They declined to reveal the secret of how a girl pees when it’s 160 degrees below…..Anyone know?

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Though it has been established that many of the highest-status Moche religious figures were women, Moche women were not known to be involved in the state’s war-like activities. The National Geographic article detailing the find guessed that perhaps the war clubs were carried by the Lady of Cao’s entourage (an amusingly idea in light of today’s celebrity-entourage culture), and another article in Salon.com’s Broadsheet speculated that the weapons could have been funeral gifts from men.  Whatever the case, Tulane anthropologist John Verano confirmed in the National Geographic story that, “The war clubs are clear symbols not only of combat but of power.”

Perhaps the Lady of Cao was a rare female political leader who wielded a real-politik type of governance by fear.  Or perhaps she was a priestess who oversaw military sects of society. Or maybe she was a warrior herself, achieving status through battle like so many male Andean leaders. One article detailing Andean gender roles explains that women and men were assigned gender-specific tasks—women, for example, oversaw the creation of textiles, a process and product given extraordinarily high priority in Andean society.  The article goes on to mention, however, that there are examples of Andean women warriors and war leaders in Inca legend. Interestingly, though, “these [warrior] women also fulfilled female gender roles,” as they are described not only as war leaders but also as mates, mothers, and widows.

Like Wonder Woman and her super-powered accessories (perhaps the coolest concept ever – “In your satin tights, fighting for your rights!”), the Lady of Cao’s combo of bling and weaving materials with heavy-duty weaponry suggests that she played a high status role that involved both “male” war-related activities and “female” textile work.  One Broadsheet reader commented, “Looks like this ancient Peruvian woman may have combined family and a career—in ass-kicking.”

Who knows, by the time the diva crew touches down in Lima next May for 2008 diva tour to Peru, the Lady of Cao may have revealed a few more of her secrets. 

The Dog fell in love with Jorge. Our translator.

Susana seemed not to notice when The Dog sat down on the sofa beside Jorge, the only man in the room. With her long black legs (much longer than Jorge’s), planted on the floor in front of her and her butt firmly against Jorge’s, she was quietly prim and well-behaved - if you don’t count the fact that she occasionally turned her head and licked Jorge’s ear. Jorge had to give up his teacup because whenever he spoke, The Dog picked her paw up off the floor and put it on his knee as if to say, “hush, now, dear, you’re here with me!”

We lapped up all Baca had to tell us about her Afro-Peruvian music revolution - meanwhile while the dog-on-man sub-drama kept us in stitches.

To learn more about Baca and her music (though probably not about her dog) check out www.luakabop.com and www.afropop.org or listen to her Grammy winning album, Lamento Negro (best folk album, 2002).