Analysis of Women Conference Leadership Levels: Convener Impacts on the Science Program Committee

Abstract

<p>Conferences have increasingly come under a spotlight for inclusion and representation of marginalized groups. Here, we retrospectively analyzed perceived binary gender within the internal structure and dynamics of scientific leadership at the Chapman conference series, spanning a period from 2007 to 2019. Chapman conferences are small, focused meetings, under the umbrella of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), in the Earth and space sciences. They follow a centralized, two-leveled scientific leadership model, starting at conference inception by the organizing conveners and their selection of an invited science program committee (SPC). Our main findings were: (1) On average, women in leadership were underrepresented in relation to the total AGU membership number of women. (2) On average, if women were among conveners, the number of women in the SPC increased, reaching equity comparable to AGU membership of women. (3) On average, the women convener ratio was less equitable than the women SPC ratio. In conclusion, targeted efforts for equity–especially at the convener level of the centralized conference model–are needed, as increased representation of women at the convener level improved representation of women at the SPC. Further equity for other marginalized groups such as non-binary gender and other identities can be improved with broader demographic data collection and analysis.</p>

Women Leadership in the AGU Chapman Conference Series: Convener Impacts on the Science Program Committee

“…One aspect within multi-culturally diverse conference leadership invites leadership to develop interpersonal relationships beyond homophily. Then, with these diverse intersections in mind, we can consider key intervention points to broaden diversity not just at the participation level but at leadership (Smith- Keiling & Keiling, 2023).…”

“…While this action of boycotting can itself be a form of advocacy, it could also raise a dilemma in our opinion in that non-participation itself can potentially counteract diversity. Furthermore, boycotting may not always be the answer, because there can be several reasons why an all-male convener team exists, such as women stepping down from leadership due to over commitment in other areas (Else, 2019), as we also experienced in our own conferences (Smith- Keiling & Keiling, 2023). There are fewer justifications for an all-male SPC with more members.…”

“…Our involvement in hosting four AGU Chapman conferences within the span of time analyzed provided both a motivating factor and a useful lens from within in understanding how leadership might provide an influencing factor on broadening diversity (Smith- Keiling & Keiling, 2023). To ensure there was not bias, we examined the data with and without our conferences included.…”

“…The raw data for this study are available at the AGU Chapman website under Archives (https://www.agu.org/ Plan-for-a-Meeting/AGUMeetings/Chapman-Conferences). The compiled and anonymized data can be found at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8299791 (Keiling, 2023).…”

“…To our knowledge, this relationship has not been closely investigated despite its potential downstream negative ramifications, such as an all-male SPC with a deterrent effect on potential conference participants, versus a potential for positive outcomes with broader inclusion. In fact, through our own involvement in hosting four Chapman conferences, we saw the value of understanding how both leadership roles could enhance representation and be used to promote diversity through deeper interpersonal interventions (Smith- Keiling & Keiling, 2023). Motivated by this experience, the study outlined here was important as a first step in collecting data in order to see how our work fit into the context of Chapman conferences overall.…”