OUGD603 - Research Brief - Challenges faced by Women in Physics

OUGD603

Research Brief

Challenges faced by Women in Physics

Bibliography
https://aapt.scitation.org/doi/pdf/10.1119/1.4999731
https://epsrc.ukri.org/newsevents/news/inclusionmatters/
https://seachange.aaas.org/
http://www.iop.org/policy/diversity/external/athena/page_42803.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwndvlBRANEiwABrR32ARKcU-ySErLJeuqI2PEmjR6x2tzA6IsxeOCTvA1Aj1bHG1xJ5IEOhoCAL4QAvD_BwE
http://www.iop.org/policy/diversity/initiatives/juno/index.html

Women of colour are deeply underrepresented in physics. Between 2002 and 2012, only 1% of graduating physics majors were Black women and another 1% were Latinas; only 61 American Indian women total completed degrees in physics in those years (out of 48,000 physics majors).1 This isolation can lead to additional obstacles that women of colour majoring in physics must face above and beyond the challenging material.

Studies have indicated the existence of implicit bias against women in the sciences. In a study in which participants completed the Implicit Association Test, 70% of test-takers found it easier to associate “male” with science and “female” with the arts and language.4

Science professors at six universities, when asked to rate applicants for a position as a lab manager and indicate a reasonable salary, rated “John” a 4 and “Jennifer” a 3.3, despite identical résumés; they also indicated that John should be paid almost $4000 more than Jennifer. These differences persisted after controlling for professors’ age, sex, teaching field, and tenure status.5

 we assume that women of color who major in physics are vulnerable to implicit bias and to stereotype threat.

 One Black woman in engineering talked about how her classmates would look right through her in the hallway. A Black physics major described the thoughts that went through her mind when she entered a classroom: “It’s the little things that get you, like walking into a classroom and seeing no one there but Whites and Asians. Maybe this isn’t where I’m supposed to be at. Or you walk in and it’s all men, there’s one female. What’s wrong with her? It’s really subliminal, and it’s not something I think the university does, but the experience is the same. There’s this real message that you’re not supposed to be here. Like, I get a serious message saying, ‘You’re not supposed to be in physics.’”11 Because of the lack of others like them, some women also felt like representatives of their gender and race, and expressed being afraid to ask questions in class or go to professors for help, for fear of reinforcing negative stereotypes that women and people of color were intellectually inferior 

Barriers:
implicit bias
Stereotype threat
issolation
Microaggressions (Microaggressions are subtle indignities, slights, or insults directed at individuals, consciously or unconsciously, because of their race or gender.1)

Solutions
Those involved in this survey said that what the thing that was key to them persisting with their studies in this field was finding a setting where they could find validation that they belonged in their fields, vent frustration about racism and sexism, and express both their identities as physicists, engineers, or computer scientists and also as women of color. Following the work of other scholars who have studied students who persist despite racial isolation, we call these settings counterspaces. Participants in these studies typically found counterspaces outside of their home departments, either in mentoring relationships, campus student groups, STEM enrichment programs, or STEM diversity conferences


What is being done to combat these issues:

Solutions for physics faculty
Physics professors and teachers can support women physics students of color by keeping in mind that they may be feeling isolated, and that their isolation may be worsening the effects of implicit bias and stereotypes directed against them based on their double minority status as women of color. They may also be experiencing microaggressions in which others, intentionally or unintentionally, remind them of those stereotypes or indicate that they don’t belong in physics settings. Physics faculty can, however, create environments that mitigate the effects of isolation and stereotypes. Faculty can directly address microaggressions that come to their attention, by rejecting any stereotypes that are brought up, directly affirming that women of color belong in their departments, and insisting that microaggressions end. Faculty can employ research-based teaching approaches; in particular, faculty can emphasize a growth mindset by conveying to students that physics is mastered through practice and hard work, not through innate talent. To counter the isolation that women of color experience in most physics settings, faculty can create opportunities and environments in which physics students can get to know one another socially, both in class and outside of class. These opportunities need to be carefully designed, however, with faculty setting a tone for respectful interaction; otherwise, they may reproduce the isolation that women of color experience. Professors can create learning environments especially designed around the needs of students who are underrepresented in physics; the Emerging Scholars Program is a good model for this, widely adopted in math departments and easily modifiable for physics. Finally, professors can monitor their own biases, taking care to judge all their physics students on their own merits and not on professors’ preconceived notions of what constitutes a good physics student or a good reason to major in physics. 

Inclusion Matters 

Eleven projects have been launched at universities across the UK to improve equality, diversity and inclusion within engineering and the physical sciences.

The projects have been funded with £5.5 million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) via the Inclusion Matters call, the first initiative of its kind which has been launched as part of the collective approach by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to promote equality, diversity and inclusion.

The Inclusion Matters call projects display ambition, creativity and a commitment to addressing the pressing equality and diversity issues facing engineering and the physical sciences.

AAAS SEA CHANGE
STEM Equality Achievement (SEA) Change supports institutional transformation in support of diversity and inclusion, especially in colleges and universities.

SEA Change’s self-assessment, metrics, and awards program advances systemic institutional and departmental reform to enable success in higher education and research missions. This success is achieved by ensuring that the full range of student and faculty talent can be recruited, retained, and advanced in science, technology, engineering, medicine, and mathematics for the value and excellence achieved by including all talent in these fields.

SEA Change focuses on structural barrier removal for women, blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and people with disabilities, as well as others who are marginalized.

Athena SWAN

A charter scheme which recognises excellence in STEM subjects employment in higher education.

Any University or research institution which is committed to the advancement and promotion of the careers of women in SET (Science, engineering, technology) in higher education and research can apply for membership.

Underpinning beliefs:

- The advancement of SET is fundamental to quality of life across the globe.

- Women must be adequately represented in what has traditionally been, and still is, a male dominated area.

- science cannot reach its full potential unless it can benifit from the talents of the whole population, and until women and men can benifit equally from the opportunities it affords.

Project Juno

Aims to recognise and reward physics departments, schools, institutes and orginaisations taht can demonstrate they have taken action to adress gender inequality in physics and to encourage better practice for all staff.