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WHAT YOU CAN DO TO PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY IN STEM

Although the mountain of molehills facing women considering a career or even a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field can be daunting, we believe you can make a difference. On this page, we’ll give examples of some things we can do as educators to help balance the gender gap. Because our focus is on improving the proportion of women completing undergraduate degrees in STEM programs, we give recommendations for promoting gender equality in the university classroom as well as steps we can take beyond the classroom to attract and retain women in STEM majors.

What you can do: Welcome

IN THE UNIVERSITY CLASSROOM

As educators we have an incredible opportunity to cultivate students' interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. We appeal to different demographics with the examples we use to motivate or illustrate a given concept. Whether consciously or unconsciously, we also send a message about whose contributions to a given field we value with the work we cite and the language we use. Below we give a broad list of ideas you might implement the next time you teach to promote gender equity in the classroom.

COURSE PREPARATION

  • Give a pre-course survey to collect information on students' time and resource constraints and use this data to choose office hours and assignment deadlines, etc. (Killpack and Melon 2016)

  • Divide large classes into tracks by previous experience so that experts can move quickly and newbies don't feel out of their depth. (See Harvey Mudd's Computer Science program)

  • Seek out a gender-neutral textbook that cites women's contributions to STEM, uses gender-inclusive pronouns, and draws connections to real-life applications (Brotman and Moore 2008)

IN LECTURE

  • Raise awareness about implicit gender bias in math and science so that it can be counteracted (eg. point out that men and women perform similarly in almost every STEM field) (Hill et al 2010) --OR-- Avoid situations in which students are primed to think about membership in a negatively stereotyped group (Killpack and Melon 2016)

  • Reference work published by women (Hill et al 2010)

  • Assign female first-authored readings

  • Invite female guest speakers

  • Use gender-inclusive language when discussing occupational roles (Wiest 2014)

  • Discuss the relevance of STEM fields to real-life applications, particularly social applications (Diekman et al 2010; Hill et al 2010; McClean 2015)

  • Emphasize that students can improve skills and understanding with effort and perseverance (McClean 2015)

  • Incorporate interdisciplinary research and scholarship (Linley and George-Jackson 2013)

WHEN GRADING

  • Hide students' names when grading (Use de-identified documents) (Wiest 2014)

  • Use pre-defined rubrics to the extent possible (Wiest 2014)

  • Make performance standards and expectations clear (eg. "If you got above an 80 on this test, you are doing a great job.") (Hill et al 2010)

  • In large lectures with multiple teaching assistants (TAs), have TAs grade work by students they do not teach (V. Woods, pers comm.)

CRAFTING ASSIGNMENTS AND IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES

What you can do: Projects

UNIVERSITIES BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

Many women drift out of the STEM pipeline for reasons that have nothing to do with their competence. Achieving gender equity in STEM fields will require a cultural shift in how we think about what makes a good scientist (Hill et al 2010; Rosen 2017). Men and women both must take up the charge to make change happen. Our focus on this wiki is increasing the participation of women in STEM fields at the undergraduate level, particularly what we can do as educators to help achieve equity, but it is clear that this is not a problem that can be solved in the university classroom alone. We must address the whole pipeline from kindergarten through career placement.

ENHANCE VISIBILITY OF WOMEN AND WOMEN'S ISSUES

  • Celebrate women's accomplishments

  • Expose students to female role models in STEM

  • Highlight the under-representation of women in STEM and its causes

  • Talk about the women and girls achieving in STEM subjects and fields

  • Point out the lack of difference in performance by gender in nearly every subject to combat stereotype threat

BUILD A SUPPORT NETWORK FOR WOMEN

  • Provide opportunities for mentorship

  • Make sure women take advantage of mentorship opportunities

  • Check in with mentees regularly

  • Create structured peer networks targeting underrepresented groups in STEM to provide social support

ENCOURAGE WOMEN TO PURSUE DEGREES AND CAREERS IN STEM

  • Actively recruit women into STEM majors

  • Offer introductory courses that appeal to students with different levels of background or preparation in STEM majors

  • Sponsor seminars, lunches, and social events to help integrate women into the department

  • Ensure that no student click dominates or becomes the ideal way of "being" in a STEM major

  • Provide a welcoming student lounge open to all students to encourage interaction outside of class

  • Sponsor a "women in (STEM major)" group

  • Write strong letters of recommendation for both women and men

  • Help students identify career-relevant skills

ENGAGE IN INCLUSIVE RECRUITING AND HIRING PRACTICES TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN FEMALE FACULTY

  • Require diversity training for all hiring committees

  • Broaden search pools

  • Evaluate job applications using de-identified documents

  • Create equitable tenure and promotion policies

  • Support flexible work arrangements and other family-friendly accommodations

  • Support faculty work-life balance

  • Support dual-career couples

  • Invite female visiting scholars

  • Provide faculty professional development programs they need to succeed

  • Provide grants to individual faculty to support scholarly projects during personal challenges or transitions

  • Create clear criteria for success and transparency in advancement decisions

  • Conduct departmental reviews to assess climate for female faculty

  • Ensure mentoring for all faculty

  • Create university-wide diversity iniatives, rather than relying on iniatives housed in a single department or under a single administrator

IMPROVE YOUR MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCY

  • Learn about your own biases by taking an Implicit Association Test (IAT)

  • Keep your biases in mind

  • Do not assume multicultural competency of yourself or others

  • Seek out diversity trainings

Check out our resources page to learn more about women in STEM.

What you can do: Projects
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