“Success Together”: Physics departmental practices supporting LGBTQ+ women and women of color

Abstract

Existing research on underrepresented/minority students focuses mainly on gender or race/ethnicity and ignores the intersection of identities of women of color and the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ+) students. This research is also typically conducted at Predominately White Institutions. A large number of physics degrees earned by racial minorities have been earned from Minority Serving Institutions. This project examines the personal narratives of women of color, LGBTQ+ women, and women who exist at the intersection of these identities at Texas State, a Hispanic Serving Institution, to better understand the systems in place that helped them succeed through their physics degree. We define success to be recognition of self as a physicist and completion, or being near completion, of a physics degree. Participants reported that widely shared discussions around equity, department structures supporting collaboration, and a culture of teamwork helped them achieve success together

Understanding physics identity development through the identity performances of Black, Indigenous, and women of color and LGBTQ+ women in physics

“…They found that the physics students in their study placed high value on experiencing community membership and a sense of belonging, which supported them in continuing in the physics major. In a later study, this result was supported specifically for women of color and LGBTQ+ women, who described community membership as critical to their success [5].…”

“…Ong writes that individuals perform "complex social choreography" in order to achieve ordinariness. When existing in science spaces-traditionally white, male, and heterosexual-women of color must fight to be seen as competent members of the scientific community, making their social choreography especially dramatic [4,5,8].…”

“…The study defines a physicist as simply as possible: someone who participates in, studies, or does, physics [4,5]. This definition varies greatly from the common understanding that one must have at least a bachelor's degree to be a "real physicist."…”

“…Women who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community were primarily found through in-person social networks. We go into more detail about the specific recruitment of participants in previous papers [4,5].…”

“…Over the past few years there has been an increase in physics education research exploring the physics identity development of students and systems that support membership and belonging in the field [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. However, the literature available on physics identity has largely ignored the experiences of Black, Indigenous, and women of color (BIWOC) and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) individuals who participate in physics [4,5,8,9].…”