Women of the future in the RAS

Abstract

After this year of looking back and celebrating 100 years of women in the RAS, we now ask: what might the future hold? Extrapolating current trends, when might we expect equality in the genders of RAS members, speakers at meetings, award winners and more? Ultimately, when might we stop needing to talk about women in astronomy at all -when it will be as irrelevant to the conversation about astronomy as being a male astronomer is?I heard all imaginable jokes about being a "woman of the future" when I won the science category of the Women of the Future Awards in 2014, but I think it's a good title to focus on how women stand in the RAS, now and into the near future. At the 2014 Women of the Future Awards ceremony, the most thought--provoking acceptance speech imagined a time when awards celebrating successful young women in the UK were no longer needed; as I write this I share that sentiment. I can't help but wish we weren't still having these same conversations.