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Interview with Meira Kensky on the SBL Status of Women in the Profession Committee

Interview with Jackie Hidalgo on the SBL Status of Women in the Profession Committee

The Status of Women in the Profession Committee supports and, when necessary, advocates for the female members of the SBL by:

• Tracking the academic and professional situations of women in Biblical Studies and related fields
• Creating forums for women members to discuss academic and professional issues and conditions
• Providing mentoring and networking opportunities

It seeks to open the Society to greater participation by women and to call attention to the various ways in which the Society speaks to and about women. Members of this committee serve a three-year term, renewable for a second term. CSWP advocates for:

• The development of programs and policies that support the full inclusion of women in the activities of SBL
• Information-gathering regarding women's experiences within the academy at all career stages
• Women biblical scholars in contexts beyond the Society
• Developing policies and monitoring complaints of sexual harassment and ethical misconduct

Committee Handbook

CSWP also has an active Facebook page that facilitates discussion.

The Status of Women in the Profession Outstanding Service in Mentoring Awards

Each year at the SBL Annual Meeting, CSWP honors women who have been excellent mentors to women in the field. Learn more about CSWP mentor awards here.

Resources on Race and Gender in the Classroom

The CSWP has gathered the following resources for teaching in consideration of race and gender in the classroom:

• Peterson, et al., "Mitigating gender bias in student evaluations of teaching" (2019)
• Burmeister, et al., "Weight Bias in Graduate School Admissions" (2012)
• Bohnet, et al., "When Performance Trumps Gender Bias" (2016)
• Chávez, et al., "Exploring Biases in Student Evaluations" (2019)
• COVID-19's Impact on Inequality in the Academy: A Summary of Sociological Research Prepared by Christina Simko
• The Bias Interrupters Performance Review Toolkit
• Gender Bias Calculator (for letters of recommendation)
• Implicit Association Tests from Harvard's Project Implicit

 

 

Members of the committee:

Name	Term	Years of Term
Julie Claassens	1	2023–2025
Rhiannon Graybill	1	2023–2025
Sophia Johnson (Student Rep)	2	2025–2027
Meira Kensky (Chair)	2	2023–2025
Vanessa Lovelace	1	2023–2025
Love Sechrest	1	2025–2027
Caroline Vander Stichele	2	2025–2027
Sonia Kwok Wong	2	2025–2027
Christine Yoder	1	2023–2025

Glory Emekeme - Staff Liaison