Sexual harassment disproportionately affects ecology and evolution graduate students with multiple marginalized identities in the United States

Abstract

Sexual harassment within academic institutions has profound impacts that may lead to the attrition of groups historically excluded from the biological sciences and related disciplines. To understand sexual harassment's effects on vulnerable communities within academia, we examined graduate student experiences with sexual harassment. In a survey of ecology and evolutionary biology programs across the United States, we found that 38% of the graduate student respondents were sexually harassed during their time in these programs. Sexual harassment disproportionately affected graduate students with multiple intersecting marginalized identities, and these experiences led to delays in completing graduate programs and shifts away from their desired careers. Our research highlights the need for academic institutions, and science more broadly, to make widespread changes to sexual harassment policies, including treating sexual harassment as scientific misconduct and creating resources for individuals within students’ informal support networks, in tandem with efforts to dismantle barriers to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Testing the effectiveness of interactive training on sexual harassment and assault in field science

“…However, our sample sizes, particularly for the number of URM respondents (n = 55) compared to 110 white respondents in our within-subjects sample, limits the generalizability of these results, and may be reflective of broad underrepresentation of marginalized racial and ethnic groups in governmental natural resources management as a whole 61 – 63 . The fact that no survey respondents identified as non-binary, transgender, or any other gender identity besides man or woman limits our understanding of how these trainings affect gender minorities, especially given recent evidence about the heightened risk of harassment for this population in the field and in general 64 – 66 . We also did not collect data on sexual orientation or disability 66 , 67 , gaps that could be filled by follow-up studies.…”

“…The fact that no survey respondents identified as non-binary, transgender, or any other gender identity besides man or woman limits our understanding of how these trainings affect gender minorities, especially given recent evidence about the heightened risk of harassment for this population in the field and in general 64 – 66 . We also did not collect data on sexual orientation or disability 66 , 67 , gaps that could be filled by follow-up studies. Still, these findings indicate that to the extent that the training worked, it worked equally for these race and gender groups, and that the patterns observed for race and gender exist within participants regardless of training.…”