Carol Mershon and Denise Walsh, University of Virginia

1. Problems 2. Goals 3. Reform Action Plan 4. Transformative Action Plan 5. Conclusions

 Some progress, continuing underrepresentation  Inequality of power, resources, and rewards  e.g. salary data in Monroe et al  Disadvantages especially acute for women of color  e.g. very small numbers  greater burdens of service and bias Anonymous: structural masculinism García Bedolla: “hard sell” of intersectionality

 More women in profession at all levels,  esp. women of color  esp. in leadership positions  incl. chairs of departments  One means of advancing these goals: coalitions among women across institutions, caucuses, and committees

 For APSA to adopt  Status Committees and Caucuses would encourage APSA to adopt  Should address problems of past and present, be thinking about future challenges  Should include short, medium and long- range plans

 Two types  Reform ▪ fit within the conventional norms of political science  Transformative ▪ challenge those norms

 Reform Action Plan  Generate, disseminate, and promote best practices

 Short Term  Promote existing APSA best practices: ▪ Increase member awareness and use of APSA childcare ▪ Increase use of “soft” quotas like those for APSA Presidency ▪ Encourage departments to: ▪ be more attentive to childcare issues ▪ adopt “soft” quotas for leadership positions  Promote research & data collection on the discipline ▪ E.g., research on mentoring; who is leaving the field and why? Etc.

 Medium Term  Set best practices for depts and then rank them: ▪ faculty diversity, equitable service distribution, P&T procedures, salary equity, mentoring, etc.  Expand APSA training programs ▪ E.g., train chairs on how to do dept climate evaluations and address bias; train directors of grad programs on how to recruit diverse students; offer workshops for minorities at critical points in the career  Create opportunities for graduate students to organize a caucus with a diversity focus

 Long term  Reward individuals and depts that do well on best practices ▪ E.g., Association diversity awards and mentoring awards; publicize widely  Sponsor roundtables at meetings to showcase successes

 Change APSA leadership procedures and norms  Address neo-positivism and diversity  Acknowledge harms done

 Change APSA leadership procedures and norms  Short term ▪ Task Force on restructuring APSA to be more responsive to its diverse constituency ▪ External review of APSA HQ ▪ E.g., should Director of Diversity and Inclusion Programs have a bigger staff/budget/redefined portfolio?  Medium term ▪ Begin implementing restructuring  Long term ▪ Fully representative & responsive APSA leadership and staff

 Neo-positivism and Diversity  Short term ▪ Build support for diversity through Best Practices ▪ The professional is not political ▪ Reframe parental leave, salary equity, childcare as crucial for the profession, instead of “off limits”  Medium term ▪ Annual Conference theme on Epistemological Diversity and Discrimination  Long term ▪ APSA Leadership Council mandates a minimum number of methodologically plural panels in all conferences

 Acknowledge harms done  Short term ▪ Theater Group at annual conference on harms of exclusion and discrimination  Medium term ▪ Publish testimonies of harm incurred in the profession and publicize widely  Long term ▪ APSA TRC to catalog, raise awareness of and redress harms ▪ APSA apology

 Members of underrepresented groups at APSA  Want change  Have many ideas  Want their representatives to act ▪ Status Committees and Caucuses  We need better communication and coalition building: CSWP microsite