Five years ago, my manager and Esri Press publisher Catherine Ortiz and I were given the opportunity to talk with Kathryn Sullivan, the astronaut. We wanted her thoughts on how to bring GIS to more people. She suggested with should focus on young people, especially young women. This is where the idea of the book Women and GIS originated.
With each of the three volumes, we wanted to show women someone like themselves. There are so many people in GIS with unique experiences and different backgrounds, and we hoped these books would help show that they can take what they are passionate about and use science and GIS improve the world. Many of the people we profiled did not set out to be GIS specialists, but in pursuing their dreams, they came to realize that GIS is a useful tool to achieve their goals. We hoped the message is: If these women can do it, they can too.
In these books, there are also so many shared themes; a love of nature, an innate curiosity, and similar struggles in finding their voice and their place while doing something they love.
With each interview, we would receive recommendations from other women in GIS to reach out to. As the team kept meeting one amazing woman after another, we were able to feature around 90 women. I am honored to be a part of it, and I got to meet so many amazing people.
And as a community, I know we have so much more to share and talk about with each other.
I hope you can join us at the User Conference this Tuesday, July 11 for the Women and GIS SIG in San Diego. The last few times we have gotten together have been so rewarding and eye-opening, and it’s such a privilege to meet people and allies from the GIS community.
If you can’t join us in San Diego, I hope this is a space where we can continue to talk, exchange ideas, and help each other navigate and balance our world. Let’s work together to create the world we want to see.
