Reports, Articles, & Actionable Strategies

The Glass Obstacle Course: Informal and Formal Barriers For Women Ph.D. Students in STEM Fields

Authors: Kris De Welde and Sandra L. Laursen. Florida Gulf Coast University, U.S. University of Colorado Boulder, U.S.

Description: "A new metaphor is proposed for understanding the experiences of women pursuing Ph.D.s in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, based on a study of students in a U.S. Ph.D. program."

Quality of evidence revealing subtle gender biases in science is in the eye of the beholder

Author: Ian M. Handleya, Elizabeth R. Brown, Corinne A. Moss-Racusin, and Jessi L. Smith

Description: "Ever-growing empirical evidence documents a gender bias against women and their research—and favoring men—in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Our research examined how receptive the scientific and public communities are to experimental evidence demonstrating this gender bias, which may contribute to women’s underrepresentation within STEM. Results from our three experiments, using general-public and university faculty samples, demonstrated that men evaluate the quality of research unveiling this bias as less meritorious than do women. These findings may inform and fuel self-correction efforts within STEM to reduce gender bias, bolster objectivity and diversity in STEM workforces, and enhance discovery, education, and achievement."

New Survey Highlights Gender, Racial Harassment in Astronomy and Planetary Science

Author: Joint Release

Description: "In a survey of workplace experiences among astronomy and planetary science professionals, about 40 percent of women of color reported feeling unsafe in their workplace because of their gender, while 28 percent feel unsafe due to their race. About 13 percent of the survey’s female respondents reported skipping at least one class, meeting, fieldwork opportunity or other professional event for this reason. Some men of color also skipped events as a result of hearing racist comments at school or work, according to a external,new study detailing the survey’s results in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, a journal of the American Geophysical Union."

Twenty Years of Stereotype Threat Research: A Review of Psychological Mediators

Authors: Charlotte R. Pennington, Derek Heim, Andrew R. Levy, and Derek T. Larkin

Abstract: This systematic literature review appraises critically the mediating variables of stereotype threat. A bibliographic search was conducted across electronic databases between 1995 and 2015. The search identified 45 experiments from 38 articles and 17 unique proposed mediators that were categorized into affective/subjective (n = 6), cognitive (n = 7) and motivational mechanisms (n = 4). Empirical support was accrued for mediators such as anxiety, negative thinking, and mind-wandering, which are suggested to co-opt working memory resources under stereotype threat. Other research points to the assertion that stereotype threatened individuals may be motivated to disconfirm negative stereotypes, which can have a paradoxical effect of hampering performance. However, stereotype threat appears to affect diverse social groups in different ways, with no one mediator providing unequivocal empirical support. Underpinned by the multi-threat framework, the discussion postulates that different forms of stereotype threat may be mediated by distinct mechanisms.

Why do women choose or reject careers in academic medicine? A narrative review of empirical evidence

Authors: Laurel D. Edmunds et al.

Description: "Women are under-represented in academic medicine. We reviewed the empirical evidence focusing on the reasons for women’s choice or rejection of careers in academic medicine."

Choice of Majors: Are Women Really Different from Men?

Authors: Adriana D. Kugler, Catherine H. Tinsley, Olga Ukhaneva

Description: "Recent work suggests that women are more responsive to negative feedback than men in certain environments. We examine whether negative feedback in the form of relatively low grades in major-related classes explains gender differences in the final majors undergraduates choose.[...]"

Occasional Paper: Busting Myths About Women In STEM

Author: Australia’s Chief Scientist

Description: The Office of the Chief Scientist has published the 13th paper in the Occasional Paper Series, Busting myths about Women in STEM.

Women and Men in STEM Often at Odds Over Workplace Equity

Authors: Cary Funk and Kim Parker

Description: "Perceived inequities are especially common among women in science, technology, engineering and math jobs who work mostly with men"

Social media for social change in science

Authors: Samantha Z. Yammine, Christine Liu, Paige B. Jarreau, Imogen R. Coe

Editor’s note: "In her Working Life piece “Instagram won’t solve inequality” (16 March, p. 1294), Meghan Wright examined why she feels conflicted reading #scicomm Instagram posts by fellow women scientists. She explained that she recognizes the good they can do, yet it seems unfair that such scientists must devote time to social media outreach to combat systemic inequities. So, she has decided that she prefers to separate her social media use from her scientific activities. Wright named a social media role model at her university—the Science Sam Instagram account run by Samantha Yammine—before detailing why she did not want to participate in this kind of outreach. Although she intended to use Science Sam as an example of social media success, Wright’s critical comments about such outreach were interpreted by some as a sexist and mean-spirited personal attack on Samantha Yammine in particular and women science communicators in general. In this section, Samantha Yammine and colleagues describe the power of social media, the 500 Women Scientists organization responds to the Working Life article, and two scientists recognized by AAAS (the publisher of Science) for public engagement discuss how outreach and institutional reform can go hand in hand. In the Online Buzz box, we provide several excerpts from the online eletters we received."

Sex-Disaggregated Systematics in Canadian Time Allocation Committee Telescope Proposal Reviews

Authors: Kristine Spekkens (RMC/Queen's), Nicholas Cofie (Queen's), Dennis R. Crabtree (NRC-Herzberg)

Description: "Recent studies have shown that the proposal peer review processes employed by a variety of organizations to allocate astronomical telescope time produce outcomes that are systematically biased depending on whether proposal's principal investigator (PI) is a man or a woman. Using Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) and Gemini Observatory proposal statistics from Canada over 10 recent proposal cycles, we assess whether or not the mean proposal scores assigned by the National Research Council's (NRC's) Canadian Time Allocation Committee (CanTAC) also correlate significantly with PI sex. Classical t-tests, bootstrap and jackknife replications show that proposals submitted by women were rated significantly worse than those submitted by men. We subdivide the data in order to investigate sex-disaggregated statistics in relation to PI career stage (faculty vs. non-faculty), telescope requested, scientific review panel, observing semester, and the PhD year of faculty PIs. Consistent with the bivariate results, a multivariate regression analysis controlling for other covariates confirmed that PI sex is the only significant predictor of proposal rating scores for the sample as a whole, although differences emerge for proposals submitted by faculty and non-faculty PIs. While further research is needed to explain our results, it is possible that implicit social cognition is at work. NRC and CanTAC have taken steps to mitigate this possibility by altering proposal author lists in order to conceal the PI's identity among co-investigators. We recommend that the impact of this measure on mitigating bias in future observing semesters be quantitatively assessed using statistical techniques such as those employed here."

Assessment of potential bias in research grant peer review in Canada

Authors: Robyn Tamblyn, Nadyne Girard, Christina J. Qian and James Hanley

Description: "Peer review is used to determine what research is funded and published, yet little is known about its effectiveness, and it is suspected that there may be biases. We investigated the variability of peer review and factors influencing ratings of grant applications."

9th Gender Summit - Europe

Author: European Parliament and the Commission

Description: Report from the 2016 European Gender Summit to the European Commission and European Parliament. Research and Innovation Quality through Equality. Gender-based research, innovation and development for sustainable economies and societal well-being.

McKinsey Global Institute Report

Authors: Sandrine Devillard, Tiffany Vogel, Andrew Pickersgill, Anu Madgavkar, Tracy Nowski, Mekala Krishnan, Tina Pan, and Dania Kechrid

Description: "Accelerating progress toward gender equality is not only a moral and social imperative, it would also deliver a growth dividend for Canada. In a new report from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), The power of parity: Advancing women’s equality in Canada, we find that by taking steps to address this issue, Canada could add $150 billion in incremental GDP in 2026 or see a 0.6 percent increase of annual GDP growth."

Female CIHR grant applicants have lower success rates than male counterparts

Author: Academica Group

Description: This article addresses the concerns about the potential effects of gender bias on science funding.

The chemistry PhD: the impact on women's retention

Author: Jessica Lober Newsome

Description: This research attempted to establish what accounts for the findings of a RSC survey of the career intentions of chemistry PhD students (RSC, 2008). It was a qualitative study which aimed to pin point the factors that discourage women more than men from planning a career in research, especially in academia.

Through Both Eyes: The Case for a Gender Lens in STEM

Authors: Dr. Anna Zecharia, Dr. Ellie Cosgrave, Professor Liz Thomas, and Dr. Rob Jones

Description: "SCIENCEGRRL is a new, grassroots movement springing from a collective feeling that something has to change about the representation of girls and women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) and in wider society. We launched our 2013 sciencegrrl calendar as a visual response to the EU Commission’s decision to advertise their ‘Science: it’s a girl thing’ campaign with a pseudo-pop video."

Making Chemistry Inclusive: Proceeding of the CSC Symposium on Equity and Diversity in Chemistry

Authors: Nola Etkin, Margaret-Ann Armour, Tamara Franz-Odendaal, Geoff Rayner-Canham, Marelene Rayner-Canham, Hind A. Al-Abadleh, and Kirsten Jones

Description: "This book is drawn from talks presented at the Symposium on "Equity and Diversity in Chemistry" which was part of the 99th Canadian Society for Chemistry Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia in June, 2016."

Accessible Science Laboratories

Author: Council of Ontario Universities

Description: The paper’s recommendations are based on best practices and not all of the described provisions must be followed to comply with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). All suggestions, however, are directed toward building inclusive laboratory environments and supporting a culture of accessibility for all undergraduate and graduate students at our universities.

Gender in the Global Research Landscape: Elsevier Gender Report

Author: Elsevier

Description: "As a steward of world research, Elsevier has a responsibility to promote gender equality in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and advance understanding of the impact of gender, sex, and diversity in research. In this regard, Elsevier fully supports the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 5, “to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls,” and the Global Research Council’s Statement of Principles and Actions Promoting the Equality and Status of Women in Research.[…]"

Women and STEM: Bridging the Divide

Authors: Beata Caranci, Katherine Judge, and Oriana Kobelak

Highlights: The labour market is increasingly demanding higher skill levels in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). And, the market is paying women above-average wages in these fields. It will be difficult to narrow the overall gender wage gap if women fail to make stronger inroads into STEM fields. Aptitude differentials in math among girls and boys as the source of women underrepresentation in STEM has been debunked many times over. The causes are numerous and complex, but include marginalization within educational and corporate institutions. Within the workplace, employers need to revisit whether ongoing marginalization is present. Women who acquire a degree in STEM are disproportionately slotted into lower paying technical roles.

Balancing the Scale: NSF's Career-Life Balance Initiative

Author: National Science Foundation

Description: "The development of world-class STEM talent positions the U.S. for future global leadership in forging new and transformative discoveries, learning, and innovations, in a time when other nations increasingly are developing and retaining their own talent. However, although women and girls comprise a significant fraction of the STEM talent pool, recent studies (e.g., Staying Competitive, 2009) have demonstrated the adverse effect that lack of family friendly considerations have on women's progression to the top ranks of the scientific enterprise (especially academe). Family formation, notably marriage and childbirth, is a key factor for the departure from the STEM workforce between Ph.D. receipt and achieving tenure for women in the sciences. Needed progress can take place only through changes in the attitudes, policies, and practices that inform how we educate the workforce and manage in the workplace."

Championing the Success of Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths, and Medicine

Author: Digital Science

Description: "Digital Science is committed to improving connections, collaboration and communication within the academic community. We invest in companies with the aim of fostering change and providing long term benefits for the world of research. In order to ensure that the research community is fully connected and empowered, inclusivity is key, tapping into the expertise of everyone, regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation. In our commitment to improving science, we support those who previously have been marginalised, emphasising our common goals and stressing the importance of recognising the potential of individuals."

Women Matter: Ten years of insights on gender diversity

Authors: Georges Desvaux, Sandrine Devillard, Alix de Zelicourt, Cecile Kossoff, Eric Labaye, and Sandra Sancier-Sultan

Description: McKinsey & Company report on gender equity. "A decade into our research, we highlight key findings—and invite 16 global leaders to look at how to increase gender diversity in corporations and imagine the inclusive company of the future."

Women's Participation in Patenting

Author: Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Description: An analysis of patent cooperation treaty applications originating in Canada.