Throughout the life cycle of a geoscience career gender inequalities still exist, even in the face of legislative and societal change. One response in Alberta Canada is the formation of professional women’s groups. Drawing on feminist geography, the objective of this research was to explore the social relations and power structures involved within the work environment that categorized where women’s groups are created, why they are created, and the strategies used in addressing gender disparities and inequality. This mixed-methods study included an inventory of current groups that exist in Alberta, an online survey to reach professional STEM women within the geoscience community who have been members of one or more professional women’s groups, and in-depth semi-structured interviews with three key actors from an Alberta based group. The information gathered was then supplemented with research performed by two Alberta based grassroots professional women’s groups, the AWSN and GeoWomen. The intended outcomes were to create evidence-based solutions, which in turn will help contribute to concrete solutions to better support professional female geoscientists in Alberta. Keywords: Gender; Gender Inequality; Gendered Space; STEM; Geoscientists; Feminist Geography
This article explores how gender interacts with race, ethnicity and/or culture to structure the microaggressions experienced by visibly and culturally diverse women in Australian Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) organisations. We focus on these women’s experiences to disrupt the normative erasure of race from the workplace diversity context. We conducted 30 semi-structured interviews with women in academia, industry and government who self-identify as women of colour or as culturally diverse. We use an intersectional lens to show that the challenges experienced by visibly and culturally diverse women cannot simply be subsumed under gender. Rather, race and gender intersect to create overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination and disadvantage. These issues are largely unintelligible in STEMM fields as science is positioned as gender- and race-neutral. Consequently, despite their devastating impact, racial microaggressions may be invisible to members of the dominant racial group—those most likely to be the peers and managers of visibly and culturally diverse women. White managers and peers can act as allies to women of colour in STEMM by respecting and amplifying their concerns. Learning to recognise and confront racial microaggressions can help make science workplaces more inclusive of all scientists.
Little is known about gender inequality in Canadian professors’ workloads (e.g., if women perform more service than men). To address this gap, we explore the distribution of research and service work amongst Natural Sciences and Engineering (NSE) professors from the Atlantic and Prairie provinces. We further investigate whether women are disproportionately responsible for activities intended to improve gender equity (e.g., youth recruitment targeting girls to account for women’s underrepresentation in NSE); and ascertain the professional and personal effects of heavy service demands. Statistical analyses of a cross-sectional online workplace experiences survey indicated that men spent significantly more time on research than women, while women spent significantly more time on service than men. Women reported significantly more time spent on professional development and outreach activities than men, specifically. Women’s heavier service load was associated with decreased research productivity, longer terms as assistant professors; and below average salaries, as compared to men of similar rank and experience. Moreover, women’s well-being was negatively affected by heavy service. Accordingly, women’s disproportionate responsibility for service is an obstacle to gender equity in academic NSE in Canada; and suggest that initiatives intended to improve gender equity in NSE may be detracting from women’s research time.
Under-representation of women in academic Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) requires multi-faceted solutions focused on retention along with recruitment. This study addresses programs developed to provide mentorship, work-life balance support, and leadership training, evaluating their perceived benefits and objective productivity markers, relying on quantitative and qualitative data. High levels of satisfaction were demonstrated for career-advancement initiatives, with the program providing support during periods of personal challenges rated somewhat higher. All programs resulted in productivity gains, including more publications, conference presentations, and promotions post-participation, providing support for multi-faceted career development, spanning scholarship and work-life balance, and targeting STEM women academic staff across the career trajectory. Similar efforts can be expected to prove effective in other higher education settings, in the US and elsewhere, providing career support and development opportunities for women in STEM. “Best practices” resulting from this program implementation are currently being disseminated regionally and await broader applications.
This editorial introduces the first of two International Journal of Gender, Science, and Technology special issues, focused on research that emerged from the Network Gender & STEM conference, centering on a re-imagining of “who does STEM,” and featured scholars from an array of disciplines and perspectives from around the globe. This re-imagining serves a critical purpose, to develop a vision for a less gender-typed present and future that identifies challenges, tests pathways through them, and forges a theoretically- and empirically-grounded path through the decades ahead. Can we be innovative in science and technology while furthering the education and career advancement of women of all backgrounds in these fields? This set of issues collectively furthers the response: yes, we can. Over the course of the issue, the argument is also made that systemic changes to reconfigure the powerful status quo need to be part of the work towards gender equity and socially just societies that position those of any gender as able and ready to do and in fact excel in STEM disciplines. Importantly, the scholarship produced in this issue is not limited to gender alone, but considers to varying degrees how power and inequality across identities and contexts can intersect with gender and compound its effects. From early education through adulthood, gender shapes how humans interface with science and technology. Therefore, some discussion of gender beyond the binary is undertaken, particularly in the latter manuscripts. These manuscripts individually and as a set advance the conversation around what can be done across education and society to achieve gender equity in STEM.
Based on the expectancy-value theory, cultural microsystem model, and family systems theory, this study aimed to understand (a) the extent to which Latinx older siblings’ support predicted the high school science motivational beliefs of their younger adolescent sibling, and (b) whether these relations varied based on older siblings’ familism values and gender. This study included data on 104 Latinx adolescents in 9 th grade and their older siblings. Quantitative regression analyses indicated that older siblings with high familism values were more likely to provide higher support. Older siblings’ support did not predict science self-concept or task value for all youth; however, this relation was significant when the older sibling’s familism values were high. Older sibling gender was unrelated to any indicators in this study. These findings suggest that familism values may play a significant positive role in Latinx sibling dyads, with older siblings who are more connected to their family serving as a significant resource to promote science motivation among their younger siblings.
Drawing from Acker’s gendered organizations perspective, this study analyzes the gender distribution of research and non-research awards in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) colleges at a mid-size public doctoral university in the western U.S. This analysis is complemented with a faculty survey (2016) elucidating faculty perceptions of the nomination process and their standing within their department and college. Despite an increase in the number of women among STEM faculty over time, women remain underrepresented among research award recipients, especially at the university level. The ratio of research to non-research awards for men is 3 to 6 times that of women faculty. Differences in productivity cannot be invoked as a mechanism for this gendered awards distribution. Women report being overlooked in the nomination process for all awards. This study suggests that the nomination and selection processes put women at an evaluative disadvantage with respect to high-status research awards. Social proximity tends to neutralize some of the evaluation bias at the college level.
Significant declines in STEM ability beliefs and interest are often found during the transitions to middle school and high school. Girls generally report lower self-concept and interest in STEM compared to boys. Some children remain interested in math and science over these transitions, but we know little about the school and social factors that contribute to their continued interest and if these factors differ by gender. This study examines changes in math and science self-efficacy and interest over two school transitions and the final two years in high school. It further examines if changes and gender discrepancies in math and science interest, can be accounted for by self-efficacy, classroom qualities and the gender stereotypical beliefs about the usefulness of math and science . Student in grades 5, 8, and 11 (N= 595) completed surveys on their math and science interest, self-efficacy, stereotypes, and classroom quality prior to transitioning to the next grade, and then one year post-transition. A lthough there were declines in interest and efficacy over school transitions they were not as substantial or pervasive compared to previous research. Gender differences were more apparent in high school than in earlier grades. Regressions analyses indicated that changes in interest over time were explained by self-efficacy, classroom quality, and gender stereotype beliefs, although gender stereotypes were only predictive of science interest.
A workforce trained in STEM skills is a fundamental requisite for socioeconomic wellbeing and innovation, however one of the factors limiting its availability is the progressive attrition of women along the academic and professional pipeline. In this study, a survey was carried out with 504 students aged 14 to 18 in two British high schools to investigate any association between students’ gender or parental education status and their engagement with STEM disciplines. This study highlighted a worrying trend in terms of students’ choice of scientific role models: only 12% of the participants picked a woman when asked to name an influential scientist, suggesting that the limited availability of female role models might be a factor contributing to the gender gap from an early stage of the STEM educational pipeline. Our data also confirm previous observations that, while girls are overall less likely to express preference for the majority of STEM subjects, they are significantly more likely than boys to express a preference for biology. Moreover, we found a previously unreported association between parental education and students’ choice of science news sources, whereby participants whose parents/guardians have a university degree are more likely to mention their parents as a source.
The current study investigates how undergraduates reason about gender and racial inequity in fields related to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Participants were 342 undergraduates from diverse ethnic backgrounds who answered an open-ended question about ethnic and gender disparities in STEM fields. Thematic analysis revealed substantial variation in how participants reasoned about these disparities. Corresponding quantitative analyses indicated that participants from various sociodemographic backgrounds tended to reason about STEM disparities in different ways. Women were more likely than men to mention stereotyping and lack of confidence as reasons for STEM inequity. Conversely, men were more likely than women to mention a lack of motivation as reasons for these disparities. Latinx participants were also more likely to mention stereotyping than participants from other ethnic backgrounds. Our results imply that there may be unique factors, like stereotyping and low confidence, that are of special concern to women and Latinx individuals when deciding whether or not to pursue STEM careers.
This study explores graduate engineering identity and the influence of peer and academic advisor relationships using an intersectional lens. A survey collected 1,754 U.S. engineering graduate students’ reports of their experiences, identities, and motivation and explored two research questions using a combination of MANOVAs and moderated regressions. Peer and academic advisor attitudes are positively related to all aspects of graduate engineering identity. Students’ identities significantly predicted mean differences across scientist, engineer, and researcher identities and their sub-constructs. Male and female Asian students scored lower than their peers in self-assessments of their scientist recognition and performance/competence, while other groups showed more variability. Advisor relationship scores were similar for all students, but peer relationship scores were lower for Students of Color. Students’ social identities also led to differences in the relationships between advisor/peer relationship scores and engineering identity. Men and Women of Color often reported significantly different effects of peer relationships on identity, with men reporting positive effect and women reporting no effect. Asian women and Underrepresented Women of Color differed from White women, where Women of Color reported stronger benefits from positive academic advisor relationships. This paper explores these results and the implications for researchers and educators working with graduate populations.
This editorial introduces the first of two International Journal of Gender, Science, and Technology special issues, focused on research that emerged from the Network Gender & STEM conference, centering on a re-imagining of “who does STEM,” and featured scholars from an array of disciplines and perspectives from around the globe. This re-imagining serves a critical purpose, to develop a vision for a less gender-typed present and future that identifies challenges, tests pathways through them, and forges a theoretically- and empirically-grounded path through the decades ahead. Can we be innovative in science and technology while furthering the education and career advancement of women of all backgrounds in these fields? This set of issues collectively furthers the response: yes, we can. Over the course of the issue, the argument is also made that systemic changes to reconfigure the powerful status quo need to be part of the work towards gender equity and socially just societies that position those of any gender as able and ready to do and in fact excel in STEM disciplines. Importantly, the scholarship produced in this issue is not limited to gender alone, but considers to varying degrees how power and inequality across identities and contexts can intersect with gender and compound its effects. From early education through adulthood, gender shapes how humans interface with science and technology. Therefore, some discussion of gender beyond the binary is undertaken, particularly in the latter manuscripts. These manuscripts individually and as a set advance the conversation around what can be done across education and society to achieve gender equity in STEM.
There seems to be a disconnect between the purported goal of engineering education (and perhaps STEM education broadly) to become a more inclusive discipline, and the means by which this is accomplished. Efforts from thousands of dedicated researchers and program directors around the country continue in full force to develop theory and programming to better recruit, hire or admit, retain, promote, and sustain underrepresented women and men in engineering education; and yet overall the needle budges little. In this perspectives paper, I join with others in thinking through a new way for thinking about gender and race in engineering education research. While the careful investigation of psychological constructs in education have brought great value to the broadening participation in STEM research space, less interrogated are the structural aspects of how gender and race are baked into the very institution of higher education and of engineering education into which we are hoping to recruit, hire or admit, retain, promote, and sustain underrepresented women and men. This paper draws on feminist and critical race theory to help us collectively continue to “shift the default” away from the White male backdrop of higher and engineering education, and join our research voices with those who have been in this space a while to more insistently question how Whiteness and maleness has been baked into the structure of our educational institutions.
Colleges and universities in the US have integrated Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into almost all disciplines, curricula, and activities, hoping both to prepare students for future careers and to engage so-called “digital natives”. Despite the ubiquity of ICT and higher education’s integration of these technologies, studies show incoming students often fall short in their ICT skills. The purpose of this study is to extend prior research to explore the ICT exposure, use, and access factors that influence students’ ICT self-efficacy, and to identify any gender- or income-based group differences. Using a two-year sample of incoming first-year students at a public research university in the United States, the study shows significant relationships between ICT access, prior academic exposure, and Internet use on perceptions of ICT skills. The study also finds students are confident in many ICT skills, though student self-efficacy in their content creation skills was limited. While parental income was not found to be a significant factor, some gender differences in ICT self-efficacy continue to exist. The findings, along with movement in higher education towards distributed and electronic learning, suggest that it is important for universities to emphasize and integrate digital content creation into courses and curricula.
We examined the presence of sexist experiences encountered by female undergraduate students across six geology departments. Two departments graduated a high percentage of female students compared to the national average (high sites), two departments had a moderate percentage (medium sites), and two had a low percentage (low sites). Over 50% of all participants reported encountering sexism. Hostile sexism was the most frequently reported type of sexism, subtle stereotype sexism the second most frequently reported, and subtle benevolent sexism the least frequently reported. Low and medium sites had a higher percentage of participants reporting sexism than at high sites. Additionally, most of the hostile experiences were reported at low and medium sites, and nearly 50% of participants at those site types reported sexist experiences, suggesting that there is a more pervasive hostile social climate in low and medium sites. These findings suggest that sexism may be common within the six geology departments and particularly at low and medium sites. We speculate that hostile sexism may serve as a barrier for recruitment and retention of women in low and medium sites.
Efforts to inspire women to enter a STEM-related profession continue to increase. However, even though many women are now working in these male-dominated professions, they are not always successful. This is especially the case in higher management positions, where women are confronted with gender-specific barriers. We discuss here some of the factors that can increase the probability of women finding success in their profession. This study examines the individual factors that favor the career development of women in STEM. Our main research question is: which factors influence the achievement of leadership positions for women in STEM? We developed an online survey addressing several professional associations in the STEM fields to answer this question. Logistic regression factors were used to predict these women’s achievement of leadership positions. Significant effects are noted in the women’s work motivation, career orientation and area of expertise. Positive influencing factors include high intrinsic work motivation, orientation towards general management and autonomy, and working in the field of architecture. Our findings show that children are not an obstacle to a woman’s career path in the STEM professions and that male role models are a beneficial factor to women who seek to reach leadership positions.
The purpose of this study was to examine Black girls’ performance on advanced placement (AP) exams. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers are lucrative, and there are opportunities to participate through both short-term and 4-year college degree paths. However, poor K-12 (i.e. U.S. primary through secondary school) preparation, limited course availability, and low rigor have been shown to be strong mediators of post-secondary STEM participation. Therefore, understanding how Black girls perform on various STEM AP exams provides a foundation for testing the impact of variables already identified as mediators of success. Ninth through 12th graders’ AP exam scores were used from a cross-sectional sample consisting of 32,675 cases across 7 science and 3 mathematics disciplines. Cases were compared across disciplines to examine differences in participation and performance trends for Black girls on AP STEM examinations. Data were contextualized using descriptive statistics and confidence intervals of odds ratios. The results of this study suggest that Black girls participate in non-traditional STEM courses more frequently with varying levels of performance outcomes. Implications and recommendations related to this phenomenon are presented to inform research and instructional praxis.
Some of the earliest and most influential women scientists in the U.S. have been Catholic sisters. Yet their stories and scientific contributions are not widely known. Why did these sisters pursue scientific study, in what ways did they contribute to science, and how did their experiences compare to that of other women scientists? Using archival data from women’s religious communities to which they belonged and universities where they were employed, this qualitative multiple case study explored the occupational motivations, scientific contributions, and experiences of three U.S. Catholic sister scientists. Similarities between the experiences of sister scientists and other women scientists included mentoring, marginalization, and religious discrimination. What differed in the experiences of sister scientists was their financial obligation to and support from their religious communities, and their regard of science as worship. This article brings to light the significant scientific contributions of three Catholic sister scientists as a way to honor their previously overlooked work and to document their lived experiences for the benefit of other women in STEM and those considering a career in STEM.
The slow progression and under-representation of women in senior scientific career positions is a well-known and persistent global problem, especially among university-based academics, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). To inform action for change, we need to go beyond numerical evidence of inequalities to understanding the underlying social, cultural and institutional drivers and processes producing gender inequities in science careers. This requires a theoretically rigorous gender analysis framework that is relevant to SSA and sufficiently accounts for variations among both women and men. Since no such framework is available, we conducted a literature review of emerging theories and empirical evidence on the dimensions of and reasons for the prevailing gender inequities in higher education institutions in SSA. Based on this, we propose an integrated conceptual framework, identify available empirical findings to support it and develop a preliminary explanation of observed inequities. Our findings demonstrate that women’s (lack of) progression in academic/scientific research careers is shaped by intersections between gender roles and social power relations of gender within the family, wider society and academic institutions themselves. We argue that this integrated model provides implications for theory, practice at institutional and policy level, and future research.
