Shining light on implicit bias, stereotype threats and microaggressions in academia
originally published 15 Julho, 2021 at Portal do Astrónomo
Over the last decade large investment in science outreach and promotion of careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), targeted to young girls and women, finally shows success. In Europe, on average there is a higher number of accomplished female than male undergraduate and graduate students in the STEM fields. However, women are less likely than men to reach full professorship in their academic career. In Portugal, 62% of the doctoral graduates in Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics are women, yet the proportion of women in senior academic and decision-making positions drops to 30,2% in Natural Sciences and it goes as low as to 10,6% in Engineering and Technology [1].
Where do all these highly educated and scientifically-trained female scientists go? And most importantly to develop successful policies for the advancement of gender equity in science we have to ask the inevitable question:
Why do women leave academia and what can we do to help them
to unleash their full potential as a scientist?
Implicit bias, stereotypes and their threats
Stereotypes and their threats as well as lack of role models circularly perpetuate implicit biases. A cognitive process that is unconscious and influences our judgements, actions, and performance and are thought to be the key drivers to explain the leaky pipeline. This way we negatively assess a person’s ability and judge on the stereotype and not on the actual performance of the individual. Much research suggests that implicit biases are the top reason why women receive fewer invitations to conferences [2], are less cited [3] and are awarded less funding than their male counterparts [1], despite equal performance. A pattern that gets further reinforced due to necessary career breaks women take for child care, which is even more prominent in the light of the current global pandemic [4]. However, that is by far not the complete picture that can explain the drop in female academics reaching tenure positions.
A recent groundbreaking documentary called “Picture A Scientist”, a film by Sharon Shattuck & Ian Cheney, shines light on the challenges faced by women and minorities to succeed in science.
Award-winning scientist Prof. Dr. Nancy Hopkins, Prof. Dr. Raychelle Burks and Prof. Dr. Jane Willenbring share their experiences, struggles and action for change while discussing at great length how exposure to frequent but often invisible microaggressions impacts not only the mental state of an individual but often jeopardizes the career path of highly-trained talent. Women and people of colour falling repeatedly and most often undefended as the main target [5].
What are microaggressions?
Microaggressions are subtle, implicit, unconscious and nuanced expressions of stereotypes in the form of insulting, disrespectful verbal and nonverbal communications, that occur during everyday exchanges [6], sometimes in a very bad attempt to try saying something positive (i.e. a woman is told that she does not “look like” an engineer) [7]. However, unwanted sexual attention, coercion, assault are just the tip of the iceberg. Subtle exclusions, being left off an email, not being invited to collaborate, hostility, unjustified distribution of authorship or passed over for promotion are all considered behavioural manifestations of implicit held stereotypes. Microaggressions are found not only to be directed at women but also at individuals from various identity groups who are underrepresented or marginalized including race, religion, sexual orientation, or persons with disability [8]. Many times, the individual aggressive actions are considered neglectable, but as the saying goes “a ton of feathers still weighs a ton” and dealing with microaggression frequently and repeatedly induces emotional experiences that affect cognitive abilities and modulate career aspirations of an individual at great length [9].
How can we combat microaggressions and foster inclusivity?
Everyone has a role to play in changing the culture in science and academia. When you are in a room, turn around and see who is missing? Who should be in this important meeting but is not present? Who is always talking and who is silent? Who gets interrupted when speaking? Who is interrupting?
While the target of a microaggression is faced with immediate emotions and shock in response to the harassment, as a bystander you have a lot of tools available to support and counteract. Hollaback! offers a very impactful and free 30 minute bystander training to learn how to not be a bystander and rather support individuals suffering harassment, without making yourself a target. Learn and commit to play your part in ending gender- and racial-based discrimination in working environments and public places.
You could also educate yourself about your own implicit biases. Psychologists at Harvard created the Project Implicit and developed the Hidden Bias test, also called the Implicit Association Test to measure your unconscious bias. We unfortunately all hold them to different degrees, so don’t shy away from learning about them and understanding the impact on your decisions and actions while committing to be part of the change and improvement of the academic but also public environment.
To foster inclusion and empower women in STEM you could also support the vision and mission of Soapbox Science, a global non-profit science communication initiative, that aims to improve gender equity in science by increasing the visibility of women in STEM, while challenging stereotypes and the public’s view of a scientist.
And finally as Prof. Dr. Kate Clancy testified to the U.S. House of Representatives Science, Space and Technology Committee
“Let's move away from a culture of compliance and toward a culture of change”.
References
[1]She Figures Report 2018
[2]Nature 573, 184-186 (2019), https://doi:10.1038/d41586-019-02658-6
[3]Budrikis, Z. Growing citation gender gap. Nat Rev Phys 2, 346 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-020-0207-3
[4]Myers, K.R., Tham, W.Y., Yin, Y. et al. Unequal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on scientists. Nat Hum Behav (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-0921-y
[5]J.McCabe, Racial and Gender Microaggressions on a Predominantly-White Campus: Experiences of Black, Latina/o and White Undergraduates; Race, Gender & Class, Vol. 16, No. 1/2 (2009), pp. 133-151 http://www.jstor.org/stable/41658864
[6]Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (2008). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice (4th ed.). New York, NY: Wiley https://endahfebrianto.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/derald_wing_sue_david_sue_counseling_the_culturbookzz-org.pdf
[7]Sekaquaptewa, D. (2019). Gender-based microaggressions in STEM settings. Currents, 1(1), 1-10. http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/currents.17387731.0001.101
[8]Nadal, K. L. (2009). Preventing racial, ethnic, gender, sexual minority, disability, and religious microaggressions: Recommendations for promoting positive mental health. Prevention in Counseling Psychology: Theory, Research, Practice & Training, 2, 22–27. http://www.div17.org/preventionsection/Prevention_Pub_08.pdf
[9]Capodilupo, C. M., Nadal, K. L., Corman, L., Hamit, S., Lyons, O. B., & Weinberg, A. (2010). The manifestation of gender microaggressions. In D. W. Sue (Ed.), Microaggressions and marginality: Manifestation, dynamics, and impact (pp. 193–216). John Wiley & Sons Inc. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-12742-009
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