![]() “I find that both men and women…are going to immediately call witch. ![]() “I’m pretty aggressive,” said a Latina bioengineer. On the other hand, if women are assertive, direct, outspoken, or competitive, they may face dislike or even ostracism. An astrophysicist told us she’d had to “damp down” her ambition and “become as amiable as possible,” going as far as to hide prizes and media attention. “I’ve gotten remarks like, ‘I didn’t expect someone Indian…and female to be like this,” said a micro-biologist. ![]() About half of the scientists we surveyed (53.0%) reported backlash for displaying stereotypically “masculine” behaviors like speaking their minds directly or being decisive. More than a third (34.1%) of scientists surveyed reported feeling pressure to play a traditionally feminine role, with Asian Americans (40.9%) more likely than other groups of women to report this. So women find themselves walking a tightrope between being seen as too feminine to be competent, and too masculine to be likable. Women need to behave in masculine ways in order to be seen as competent-but women are expected to be feminine. (And few Asian-American women felt that the stereotype of Asian-Americans as good at science helped them that stereotype may well chiefly benefit Asian-American men.)Įxperimental social psychologists have documented this type of bias over and over again in college labs, but this is the first time someone has taken that experimental literature and asked women whether it describes their experience in actual workplaces. Black women were considerably more likely than other women to report having to deal with this type of bias three-fourths of black women did. “People just assume you’re not going to be able to cut it,” a statistician told us, in a typical comment. Two-thirds of the women interviewed, and two-thirds of the women surveyed, reported having to prove themselves over and over again – their successes discounted, their expertise questioned. Black women also face a fifth type of bias. This new study emphasizes that women of color experience these to different degrees, and in different ways. My previous research has shown that there are four major patterns of bias women face at work. These studies provide an important picture of how gender bias plays out in everyday workplace interactions. We conducted in-depth interviews with 60 female scientists and surveyed 557 female scientists, both with help from the Association for Women in Science. Hall, also indicates that bias, not pipeline issues or personal choices, pushes women out of science – and that bias plays out differently depending on a woman’s race or ethnicity. My own new research, co-authored with Kathrine W. A 2014 study found that both men and women were twice as likely to hire a man for a job that required math. A 2012 randomized, double-blind study gave science faculty at research-intensive universities the application materials of a fictitious student randomly assigned a male or female name, and found that both male and female faculty rated the male applicant as significantly more competent and hirable than the woman with identical application materials. Several new studies add to the growing body of evidence that documents the role of gender bias in driving women out of science careers. After all, the percentage of women in computer science has actually decreased since 1991.Īnother theory is that women are choosing to forgo careers in STEM to attain better work-family balance-rather than being pushed out by bias. Some argue it’s a pipeline issue – that if we can interest more young girls in STEM subjects, the issue will resolve itself over time. By now, we’ve all heard about the low numbers of American women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
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