Ten Strategies to Reduce Gender Inequality at Scientific Conferences

Sardelis, Stephanie; Oester, Samantha; Liboiron, Max

doi:10.3389/fmars.2017.00231

Cited by 26 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…They are important places where cultural norms can be challenged and altered and where positive experiences can be accrued for all attendees. To supplement the important suggestions of previous authors to create more inclusive conference experiences for all attendees (e.g., Sardelis et al 2017), we conclude our paper with recommendations for action and reflection.…”

Section: Warming the Climatementioning

confidence: 94%

“…This does not usually happen through overt displays of sexism, racism, or intolerance, but rather through the accumulation of largely subtle behaviours and interactions (e.g., keynote speaker selection, audience etiquette, question tone) that have the effect of producing a chilly climate for minority geo/scientists who can feel that they do not belong (see . The ongoing promotion of codes of conduct for academic conferences attests to a continuing differential of experience of conferences (Martin 2014;Begiato et al 2015;Sardelis et al 2017). …”

Section: Session Climates and Behavioural Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Scientific conferences are also places where the identities of scientists are constructed; at conferences we learn what is valuable in science, who counts as a legitimate scientist, and what constitutes professional behaviour (Egri 1992;Henderson 2015). For this reason, scholars have been turning their attention towards how academic conferences might remedy (or reproduce) barriers to diversity in the earth and environmental sciences (Schroeder et al 2013;Sardelis and Drew 2016;Farr et al 2017;Hinsley et al 2017;Sardelis et al 2017). This work has King et al the lack of representation of women and people of colour as invited speakers and argued that a more intentional approach to improving diversity in this domain would help to provide role models for minorities and broaden the concept of "ideal worker" in geoscience (see Holmes et al 2015b, p. 3) to include people of diverse backgrounds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reflecting on their behaviour through conference codes of conduct may stimulate discussion about how community behaviour might be contributing to chilly climates, and may empower researchers to make progress towards diversity by changing their own behaviours (see Sardelis et al 2017). Our findings demonstrate that behaviours contributing to these climates that may be addressed in a code of conduct include (i) timekeeping issues (being on time with presentations and keeping questions concise); (ii) language (avoiding the use of gendered, racialized, or insider language); and (or) (iii) tone of questions (keeping questions polite and acknowledging appropriate venues outside of the question period for more critical questioning of scientific findings).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

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

King

MacKenzie

Tadaki

et al. 2018

FACETS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Effective policies promoting diversity in geoscience require understanding of how the values and practices of the community support the inclusion of different social groups. As sites of knowledge exchange and professional development, academic conferences are important culturing institutions that can alleviate or reproduce barriers to diversity in geoscience. This study examines diversity at a 2017 geoscience conference, the joint Canadian Geophysical Union and Canadian Society of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology annual meeting, through observation of participation, presentation content, and behaviour in conference sessions. Across 256 observed presentations, women constituted 28% of speakers, whereas women of colour made up only 5%. Participation rates differed between disciplinary sections, with the most populous sessions (Hydrology and Earth Surface) having the lowest percentage of women. Examination of presentation content reveals that the methods and scholarly contributions of both women and people of colour differed from the majority, suggesting an intellectual division of labour in geoscience. Examination of audience behaviours between presenters reveals how a "chilly climate" can be experienced by women and other marginalized demographics in conferences. We argue that there is more to be done than simply increasing numbers of women or other minorities in geoscientific spaces, and we suggest pathways to making geoscience a more inclusive and democratic pursuit.

show abstract

Section: Warming the Climatementioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Session Climates and Behavioural Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

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

King

MacKenzie

Tadaki

et al. 2018

FACETS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Academic conferences have always been privileged spaces and moments for the dissemination of new scientific knowledge (Edelheim et al, 2018;Rowe, 2018;Sá, Dias, & Sá, 2018) and for social interaction and the establishment/development of networks among scientists (Verbeke, 2015;Richards, 2015;Fraser, Soanes, Jones, Jones, & Malishev, 2017), as well as between them and novice researchers (Sardelis, Oester, & Liboiron, 2017;Oester, Cigliano, Hind-Ozan, & Parsons, 2017;Hall, 2015). This interaction is, to some extent, vital to science (Favaro et al, 2016;Oester et al, 2017;Fraser et al, 2017;Sousa & Clark, 2017;Richards, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual and Face-To-Face Academic Conferences: Comparison and Potentials

Sá¹,

Ferreira²,

Serpa³

2019

Journal of Educational and Social Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Academic conferences have always been privileged spaces and moments for the dissemination of new scientific knowledge, as well as for social interaction and for the establishment and development of social networks among scientists. However, the virtual dimension of conferences, in which individuals are not physically present in the same place, begins to emerge as an increasingly used possibility, which implies a different framing of these scientific events. This paper seeks to comparatively analyse several models of academic conferences, putting forth their advantages, limitations and potentials. Furthermore, it also seeks to reasonably envision the importance and challenges to be faced in the near future. The analysis allows concluding that virtual conferences tend to take on an increasingly central role in this type of scientific dissemination, but without totally relegating the conference mode with face-to-face interaction. Moreover, there may be conferences that emerge as a hybrid between these two types of conferences, in an attempt to provide their main benefits to the various participants. However, the insufficient literature on this topic calls for the need to develop and deepen studies in this area that allow understanding this academic and social, but also economic phenomenon, in its broader implications.

show abstract