Gender in Engineering Departments: Are There Gender Differences in Interruptions of Academic Job Talks?

Blair‐Loy, Mary; Rogers, Laura E.; Glaser, D.M.; Wong, Yan Ling Anne; Abraham, Danielle S.; Cosman, Pamela C.

doi:10.3390/socsci6010029

Cited by 54 publications

(104 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…For example, the dedication of women-who have children-to their work is perceived to be less than that of their colleagues, including men who also have children (10)(11)(12). Historically underrepresented minorities (HURM) in the United States, Asian/Asian-Americans, and women are all held to stricter competency standards and report having to work harder than Caucasian men to be perceived as legitimate scholars (13,14). Asian/Asian-Americans suffer from imposter syndrome at greater rates than other marginalized groups, and Asian women report a lack of sponsors (15,16).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suggestions for Improving Invited Speaker Diversity To Reflect Trainee Diversity

Hagan

Pollet

Libertucci

2020

J Microbiol Biol Educ.

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Within the field of biomedical research in the United States, the proportion of underrepresented minorities at the Full Professor level has remained consistently low, even though trainee demographics are becoming more diverse. Underrepresented groups face a complex set of barriers to achieving faculty status, including imposter syndrome, increased performance expectations, and patterns of exclusion. Institutionalized racism and sexism have contributed to these barriers and perpetuated policy that excludes underrepresented minorities. These barriers can contribute to decreased feelings of belonging, which may result in decreased retention of underrepresented minorities. Though some universities have altered their hiring practices to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in the applicant pool, these changes have not been sufficient. Here we argue that departmental invited seminar series can be used to provide trainees with scientific role models and increase their sense of belonging while institutions work towards more inclusive policy. In this study, we investigated the demographics (gender and race) of invited seminar speakers over 5 years to the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Michigan. We also investigated current trainee demographics and compared them to invited speaker demographics to gauge if our trainees were being provided with representation of themselves. We found that invited speaker demographics were skewed towards Caucasian men, and our trainee demographics were not being represented. From these findings, we proposed policy change within the department to address how speakers are being invited with the goal of increasing speaker diversity to better reflect trainee diversity. To facilitate this process, we developed a set of suggestions and a web-based resource that allows scientists, committees, and moderators to identify members of underserved groups. These resources can be easily adapted by other fields or subfields to promote inclusion and diversity at seminar series, conferences, and colloquia.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suggestions for Improving Invited Speaker Diversity To Reflect Trainee Diversity

Hagan

Pollet

Libertucci

2020

J Microbiol Biol Educ.

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“…Other research has shown that faculty are more likely to respond to email requests for graduate mentoring from persons with male, white-sounding names (Milkman et al 2015) and that scientific papers are judged to be of higher quality when attributed to a male author (Knobloch-Westerwick et al 2013). In this volume, Blair-Loy et al (2017) provide new evidence of unequal treatment in the STEM hiring process in the form of videotaped job talks that show more interruptions of women than men candidates for faculty engineering positions.…”

Section: Micro-level Explanationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the demand side, the most obvious intermediary mechanisms are discrimination against workers and applicants whose gender does not "fit," or align with, the gender of the job, gendered recruitment practices, and biased assessments of individuals' relative qualifications (Becker 1957;Phelps 1980;Bielby and Baron 1986;Foschi 1996;Heilman 2001). On the supply side, stereotyping reinforces segregation by leading people to make gender-conforming choices that affirm their masculinity or femininity, and avoid social sanctions and discriminatory work environments (West and Zimmerman 1987;Ridgeway 2011;Cech 2013;Blair-Loy et al 2017;Weisgram and Diekman 2017).…”

Section: Micro-macro Interactions: Cultural Stereotypes Into Aspirationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Segregation, Stereotypes, and STEM

2018

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Scientific, technical, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) occupations are strongholds of gender segregation in the contemporary United States. While many Americans regard this segregation as natural and inevitable, closer examination reveals a great deal of variability in the gendering of STEM fields across time, space, and demographic groups. This article assesses how different theoretical accounts accord with the available evidence on the gender composition of scientific and technical fields. We find most support for accounts that allow for a dynamic interplay between individual-level traits and the broader sociocultural environments in which they develop. The existing evidence suggests, in particular, that Western cultural stereotypes about the nature of STEM work and STEM workers and about the intrinsic qualities of men and women can be powerful drivers of individual aptitudes, aspirations, and affinities. We offer an illustrative catalog of stereotypes that support women's STEM-avoidance and men's STEM-affinity, and we conclude with some thoughts on policy implications.Keywords: gender; STEM; segregation; stereotypes; culture; work; occupations; science; inequality For more than three decades, American educators, policy makers, activists, and business leaders have engaged in research and policy initiatives to increase the presence of women and other underrepresented groups in scientific, technical, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) occupations and fields of study. These efforts have been motivated by interests in broadening opportunities in lucrative, high-status occupations and in ameliorating acute STEM labor shortages that are believed to threaten national prosperity, private profits and the public welfare.Despite wide-ranging research and policy efforts, STEM occupations remain strongholds of gender segregation in the contemporary United States. Women made up nearly half of the US labor market in 2015, but only 28% of all scientific and technical workers. Within STEM, gender segregation is also very strong, with women comprising 48% of life scientists and 60% of social scientists, but only 28% of physical scientists and 15% of engineers (NSF 2018, Appendices 3-12). 1 While some fields have integrated over time, others have become more segregated. Women's share of US bachelor's degrees in computer science, for instance, declined from 28% to 18% between (NSF 2018.While many Americans understand men's dominance of scientific and technical work as natural and universal, the gender typing of STEM fields varies a great deal across space, time, and socio-demographic groups. Recent comparative studies have shown that scientific degree recipients are disproportionately female in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Romania, and Georgia, for example, and that the gender gap in children's STEM aspirations is larger in more affluent societies (Charles 2011a(Charles , 2017 1 Even within engineering women and men tend to do different work: about 10% of mechanical and electrical engineers are women, compared to 20...

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“…Departments have different processes and criteria for selecting invited speakers, but it is a matter of pride to bring the best scientists possible. It may be that the definition of “best” poses a problem to under-represented and under-served groups (e.g., white women, HURM, and Asian) who are held to stricter competency standards and report having to work harder than white men to be perceived as legitimate scholars (32, 33). Some departments only invite tenured faculty, which severely limits the number of potential speakers who are white women or non-Caucasian.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Policy should change to improve invited speaker diversity and reflect trainee diversity

Hagan

Pollet

Libertucci

2019

Preprint

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1The biomedical sciences have a problem retaining white women and underrepresented minorities in 2 academia. Despite increases in the representation of these groups in faculty candidate pools, they are still 3 underrepresented at the faculty level, particularly at the Full Professor level. The lack of diverse individuals 4 at the Full Professor level contributes to the attrition of women and under-represented minorities, as it 5 confirms unconscious biases. The presence of unconscious biases contribute to feelings of not belonging 6 by trainees and are amplified by visual representation of who is presented as the "top scientist in their 7 field". Top scientists are not only defined by the attainment of Full Professorships, but also through invited 8 seminar series. Invitations for faculty to present their research at other university departments is highly 9 valued offer that provides an opportunity for collaborations and networking. However, if invited speakers do 10 not represent the demographics of current trainees, these visual representations of successful scientists 11 may contribute to decreased attitudes of self-identification as a scientist, ultimately resulting in trainees 12 leaving the field or the academy. In this study, we compare invited-speaker demographics to the current 13 trainee demographics in one microbiology and immunology department and find that trainees are not 14 proportionally represented by speakers invited to the department. Our investigation prompted changes 15 in policy for how invited speakers are selected in the future to invite a more diverse group of scientists. 16 To facilitate this process, we developed a set of tips and a web-based resource that allows scientists, 17 committees, and moderators to identify members of under-served groups. These resources can be easily 18 adapted by other fields or sub-fields to promote inclusion and diversity at seminar series', conferences, and 19 colloquia. 20

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Gender in Engineering Departments: Are There Gender Differences in Interruptions of Academic Job Talks?

Cited by 54 publications

References 45 publications

Suggestions for Improving Invited Speaker Diversity To Reflect Trainee Diversity

Suggestions for Improving Invited Speaker Diversity To Reflect Trainee Diversity

Segregation, Stereotypes, and STEM

Policy should change to improve invited speaker diversity and reflect trainee diversity

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