Association for Women in Science
professional organization
The Association for Women in Science (AWIS) was founded in 1971 at the annual Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) meeting. The organization aims to combat job discrimination, lower pay, and professional isolation. The main issue areas that the modern Association addresses are fair compensation, work-life integration, attrition, and professional development.
History
AWIS was founded in 1971 at the annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), after a series of champagne brunches organized by an informal women's caucus. After establishing an executive director and an office in Washington, DC, chapters were organized across the country for individual members. Its founding co-presidents were Neena Schwartz and Judith Pool. Along with other women in science associations, an early AWIS action involved initiating a class action lawsuit against the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in response to poor representation on NIH grant review committees. The lawsuit was dropped after representatives of the groups, including Schwartz, met with Robert Marsten, then head of the NIH, who solicited recommendations and committed to appointing more women. Early projects include the creation of the AWIS Educational Foundation (now known as the Educational Awards) to receive donations and award fellowships. In 1997, AWIS won the Presidents Mentoring Award.
The public source identifies “Association for Women in Science” as professional organization. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Association, Women and Science.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Association for Women in Science”, the useful work is to connect “professional organization” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4809538. VIAF identifies the subject as 155405607. The Library of Congress control number is n79084030. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1971 and 1997.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Association for Women in Science” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.