^{Photo: Leif Riksheim, Creative Commons}

 This year's Nobel Peace Prize award makes it clear that the current Peace Prize Committee has a serious problem with women. In fact, they have two.

Their problems have nothing to do with the choice of laureates; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah… Read full post »

Traffic to my blog has jumped recently. Twitter and Facebook are the trick.

I've been blogging for just over 6 months. While I'm writing this entry, my blog will be visited for the 9,000th time. 2,000 of those visits came in October, and over 4,000 more have come in November.… Read full post »

It's true in higher education, it's true in law firms, it's true in hospitals (it's even true in monarchies!): women can get far, but they can't get all the way to the top.

In Europe, fewer than 10% of universities are run by women. In Fortune 500 companies, about 17% of lawyers… Read full post »

Keep writing. Every day. That's what the experts say.

Maybe you just have time to write a single paragraph. Can you summarize what you wrote yesterday? Can you write a few notes about the next section in your project?

Find your strategy and stick with it. Don't succumb to Writer's Block… Read full post »

In my short life as a blogger, I've had success converting my blog posts into op-ed pieces. Publishing in traditional fora gives increased impact, which motivates me to blog more. It demonstrates that social media and blogging can lead to crossover into traditional media.

I search on Twitter to ident… Read full post »

Discovering something no one knew before is research. Discovering something that you didn't know before, but someone else did, is education.

I love the idea of universities. I spend my days with people who work to understand something better: the universe, the world, societies, brains, kids, change,… Read full post »

Academics believe that universities are meritocracies, or at least that they should be. And we're not alone. Lawyers think the same about law firms. We all think that our workplaces should reward our accomplishments. If you're the best researcher, you should win the competition for funding; if… Read full post »

The laws have been changed in Great Britain to allow a firstborn child to inherit the throne, even if that child is a girl who later gets a younger brother. In other words, the line of succession is now gender-blind, which should be encouraging to girls and women, says the Queen.

Many… Read full post »

Virginia Woolf suggested that a woman would more likely become a successful writer if she only had an annual stipend of 500 pounds and a room of her own. Is that all it would take for women in academia to experience greater career success? Are there too few female full professors because no/… Read full post »

 Admission to medical school in Norway is based on an elaborate point system. High school grades, work experience, even age can give applicants more points and thereby increase their chances.

Lately I've heard informal discussions about adding a new criterion for points. Perhaps male applicants… Read full post »