Double jeopardy in astronomy and planetary science: Women of color face greater risks of gendered and racial harassment

Abstract

Women generally, and women of color specifically, have reported hostile workplace experiences in astronomy and related fields for some time. However, little is known of the extent to which individuals in these disciplines experience inappropriate remarks, harassment, and assault. We hypothesized that the multiple marginality of women of color would mean that they would experience a higher frequency of inappropriate remarks, harassment, and assault in the astronomical and planetary science workplace. We conducted an internet‐based survey of the workplace experiences of 474 astronomers and planetary scientists between 2011 and 2015 and found support for this hypothesis. In this sample, in nearly every significant finding, women of color experienced the highest rates of negative workplace experiences, including harassment and assault. Further, 40% of women of color reported feeling unsafe in the workplace as a result of their gender or sex, and 28% of women of color reported feeling unsafe as a result of their race. Finally, 18% of women of color, and 12% of white women, skipped professional events because they did not feel safe attending, identifying a significant loss of career opportunities due to a hostile climate. Our results suggest that the astronomy and planetary science community needs to address the experiences of women of color and white women as they move forward in their efforts to create an inclusive workplace for all scientists.

Diversity in geoscience: Participation, behaviour, and the division of scientific labour at a Canadian geoscience conference

“…Women's use of remote sensing and data analysis contributions are notably lower proportionally than men's, whereas participation in fieldwork-based research by people of colour is significantly lower than that of white presenters. This may in part reflect differences in interest, but much research has shown that differential access to research resources and inherent biases and cultural norms (producing a chilly climate) are often also responsible for pushing people to opt out of a scientific field (see Holmes 2015b; Cheryan et al 2017;Clancy et al 2017). By characterising the division of scientific labour in geoscience, scientists and administrators can ask why such differences exist in key areas and make efforts to remedy any such factors in operation.…”

“…This suggests that people of colour, in particular women of colour, were poorly represented at this conference, just as they are in STEM in the US (Williams et al 2014). Data are not available to compare these proportions to other geoscience conferences; however, the geosciences have the lowest ethnic diversity of any STEM discipline (Huntoon and Lane 2007;Williams et al 2014;Clancy et al 2017). more pronounced than those of gender.…”

“…Beyond geoscience, diversity scholars have shown that women often experience subtle forms of sexism and incivility at conferences (Settles and O'Connor 2014;Biernat and Hawley 2017;Biggs et al 2017), and that collectively these experiences affect women's intentions to pursue a career in their scientific field of interest (Ratliff 2012). Women of colour were found to be significantly more likely to miss professional events such as conferences because they feel unsafe, resulting in lost career opportunities (Clancy et al 2017). …”

“…In geoscience, researchers have explored how fieldwork has been framed by heroic narratives emphasizing danger, strength, and masculine prowess, which has the effect of making women and others feel lacking or not welcome (Bracken and Mawdsley 2004;Carey et al 2016). Where some social behaviours work indirectly to privilege male researchers relative to their female counterparts, others such as workplace acts of sexual assault, harassment, or sexualization work directly to make women-and particularly women of colour-feel unsafe and unwelcome (Williams et al 2014;Clancy et al 2017). Individually, each of these biases may not be enough to push women and people of colour out of science; however, in sum they produce a cumulative climate where certain types of people feel valued and central to the enterprise of science, whereas others do not .…”

Chilly Climates, Balancing Acts, and Shifting Pathways: What Happens to Women in STEM Doctoral Programs

“…Although civil rights laws and other government regulations were enacted to make explicit discrimination less likely, some regulations have recently have been weakened, and a rash of sexual harassment revelations have shaken the sciences and public (e.g., Clancy et al 2014Clancy et al , 2017. Informal practices of discrimination persist and discourage women, including women of color, from pursuing advanced education and careers in STEM fields (Gokhale et al 2014).…”