Gender Equity in Oceanography

Abstract

Gender equity, providing for full participation of people of all genders in the oceanographic workforce, is an important goal for the continued success of the oceanographic enterprise. Here, we describe historical obstructions to gender equity; assess recent progress and the current status of gender equity in oceanography by examining quantitative measures of participation, achievement, and recognition; and review activities to improve gender equity. We find that women receive approximately half the oceanography PhDs in many parts of the world and are increasing in parity in earlier levels of academic employment. However, continued progress toward gender parity is needed, as reflected by metrics such as first-authored publications, funded grants, honors, and conference speaker invitations. Finally we make recommendations for the whole oceanographic community to continue to work together to create a culture where oceanographers of all genders can thrive, including eliminating harassment, reexamining selection and evaluation procedures, and removing structural inequities. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Marine Science, Volume 15 is January 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Broadening Participation in TOS Through Honors Nominations and Awards

“…Of the 45 TOS Fellows, 31 are White men. While other societies in oceanography also predominantly honor men, the gender statistics for TOS honors are the least diverse (Legg et al, 2022).…”

Community Perspectives on Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Ocean Sciences: A Town Hall Discussion

“…Among Earth sciences, the lack of racial diversity is most prominent in ocean sciences (Table 1 in Bernard and Cooperdock, 2018). While ocean science fields are making progress toward reaching gender parity, more advanced career stages remain disproportionately male and white (Bernard and Cooperdock, 2018;Legg et al, 2023).…”

“…Among Earth sciences, the lack of racial diversity is most prominent in ocean sciences (Table 1 in Bernard and Cooperdock, 2018). While ocean science fields are making progress toward reaching gender parity, more advanced career stages remain disproportionately male and white (Bernard and Cooperdock, 2018;Legg et al, 2023).People in positions of power have substantial opportunities to catalyze positive reforms and systemic changes. Scientific and professional societies play an important gatekeeping role by establishing disciplinary norms, distributing rewards and incentives, creating opportunities, and envisioning culture change (Ali et al, 2021).…”

“…Town Hall Theme 1: Challenges Discussion focused on the "challenges" theme indicated that despite some well-intentioned broadening of participation efforts, women, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and other marginalized groups continue to encounter enormous challenges to their participation in ocean science and related fields (Kappel and Thompson, 2014;Orcutt and Cetinić, 2014;Bernard et al, 2018;Núñez et al, 2020;Pourett et al, 2021;Johri et al, 2022;Legg et al, 2023). To understand these challenges, we asked the community the question: "What is the most significant challenge that you see to broadening participation in ocean and coastal sciences?"…”

Navigating gender at sea

“…However, recent studies do not consider the experiences of TGD people during fieldwork (Clancy et al, 2014;Nelson et al, 2017;Sexual Harassment in Marine Science Report_Women in Ocean Science _March 2021-2.Pdf, n.d.). This omission of TGD people is likely due to a lack of data (many demographics questions do not ask about gender modality or omit any entries that are not male or female; Burnett et al, 2022;Ashley, 2019;Langin, 2020, Kozlov, 2023Langin, 2023;Legg et al, 2022) as well as a lack of awareness that manuscript submitted to AGU Advances TGD people face unique challenges during fieldwork. Here we aim to partially address this gap using our collective experiences as TGD people during seagoing fieldwork.…”