The Academic Conference as a Chilly Climate for Women: Effects of Gender Representation on Experiences of Sexism, Coping Responses, and Career Intentions

Biggs, Jacklyn; Hawley, Patricia H.; Biernat, Monica

doi:10.1007/s11199-017-0800-9

Cited by 92 publications

(107 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Moreover, both men and women expressed greater intention to leave the academy in the eroticized condition. Although in some contexts men are less likely to recognize sexism (Biggs et al, 2017;Moss-Racusin, Molenda, & Cramer, 2015), our study in a specialized graduate student population does not appear to be one of them. Alternatively, our study may have attracted participation from men who were particularly concerned about sexism, and/or our survey prompted socially desirable responding from men.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 55%

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Sexualized images in professional contexts: Effects on anticipated experiences and perceived climate for women and men

Biernat

Hawley

2017

J Applied Social Pyschol

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Academic conferences are important settings for socialization, scholarly engagement, and networking. Two studies explore the effects of ambient cues in such settings on women's and men's climate perceptions. Participants (undergraduates in Study 1, graduate students in Study 2) viewed a flyer advertising a professional mixer that included an eroticized image or a control image.Women and men expected a sexualized atmosphere, and women in particular anticipated lower feelings of competence and greater discomfort and objectification at the event advertised with the erotic image. The negative effect of erotic flyer exposure on competence was mediated by discomfort (Study 1) and objectification (Study 2), particularly in women. Results are interpreted in light of pipeline leakage and women's success in the Academy.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 55%

“…At the same time, however, we did not study the actual climate or perceptions of the climate at real professional conferences (cf., Biggs et al, 2017), and our manipulation was admittedly contrived ("imagine seeing this flyer . .…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexualized images in professional contexts: Effects on anticipated experiences and perceived climate for women and men

Biernat

Hawley

2017

J Applied Social Pyschol

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“…Evidence from the CGU-CSAFM meeting illuminates several behaviours that contribute to chilly climates for women and people of colour in particular sessions: presenter behaviour that includes cues of belonging such as the use of gendered language, a higher tendency for men to take more time when giving a presentation or asking a question, higher levels These results confirm that a chilly climate is often part of the lived experience of people of colour and women at academic conferences (Settles and O'Connor 2014;Biggs et al 2017). For student researchers (62% of female CGU-CSAFM attendees were students), their scientific interest in a particular field must be weighed against behaviours they have either experienced or think they might experience in particular research communities (Ratliff 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…This work has King et al the lack of representation of women and people of colour as invited speakers and argued that a more intentional approach to improving diversity in this domain would help to provide role models for minorities and broaden the concept of "ideal worker" in geoscience (see Holmes et al 2015b, p. 3) to include people of diverse backgrounds. Beyond geoscience, diversity scholars have shown that women often experience subtle forms of sexism and incivility at conferences (Settles and O'Connor 2014;Biernat and Hawley 2017;Biggs et al 2017), and that collectively these experiences affect women's intentions to pursue a career in their scientific field of interest (Ratliff 2012). Women of colour were found to be significantly more likely to miss professional events such as conferences because they feel unsafe, resulting in lost career opportunities (Clancy et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity in geoscience: Participation, behaviour, and the division of scientific labour at a Canadian geoscience conference

King

MacKenzie

Tadaki

et al. 2018

FACETS

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Effective policies promoting diversity in geoscience require understanding of how the values and practices of the community support the inclusion of different social groups. As sites of knowledge exchange and professional development, academic conferences are important culturing institutions that can alleviate or reproduce barriers to diversity in geoscience. This study examines diversity at a 2017 geoscience conference, the joint Canadian Geophysical Union and Canadian Society of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology annual meeting, through observation of participation, presentation content, and behaviour in conference sessions. Across 256 observed presentations, women constituted 28% of speakers, whereas women of colour made up only 5%. Participation rates differed between disciplinary sections, with the most populous sessions (Hydrology and Earth Surface) having the lowest percentage of women. Examination of presentation content reveals that the methods and scholarly contributions of both women and people of colour differed from the majority, suggesting an intellectual division of labour in geoscience. Examination of audience behaviours between presenters reveals how a "chilly climate" can be experienced by women and other marginalized demographics in conferences. We argue that there is more to be done than simply increasing numbers of women or other minorities in geoscientific spaces, and we suggest pathways to making geoscience a more inclusive and democratic pursuit.

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“… Women may encounter sexism or harassment at work, in the field, or at conferences, and this may contribute to a desire to leave STEM or academia (Biggs et al, 2018;Clancy et al, 2014;Funk & Parker, 2018).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Men, Women, and STEM: Why the Differences and What Should Be Done?

Stewart‐Williams¹,

Halsey²

2018

Preprint

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It is a well-known and widely lamented fact that men outnumber women in a number of fields in STEM, including physics, mathematics, and computer science. The most commonly discussed explanations for the gender gaps are discrimination and socialization, and the most common policy prescriptions are targeted at those ostensible causes. However, a great deal of evidence in the behavioral sciences suggests that discrimination and socialization are only part of the story. The purpose of this paper is to highlight other aspects of the story: aspects that are commonly overlooked or downplayed. More precisely, the paper has two main aims. The first is to examine the evidence that factors other than workplace discrimination make a significant contribution to the gender gaps in STEM. These factors include relatively large average sex differences in career and lifestyle preferences, and relatively small average differences in cognitive aptitudessome favoring males, others favoring femaleswhich are associated with progressively larger differences the further above the average one looks. The second aim is to evaluate the evidence suggesting that these sex differences are not purely a product of social factors but also have a substantial biological (or "innate") component. A more complete picture of the many causes of the unequal sex ratios in STEM may productively inform policy debates, and is likely to improve women's situation across the STEM fields. Men, Women, and ScienceWhy the Differences and What Should Be Done?Never has the issue of gender disparities been as widely discussed, or as bitterly contested, as it has been in recent years. From the Oscars to the political podium, from TV shows to the workplace, disparities are identified and debate inevitably ensues. In the occupational realm, one of the primary focuses of this debate has been the differential representation of men and women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). 1 This was epitomized by the infamous "Google memo," in which then-Google employee James Damore (2017) questioned the extent to which observed gender disparities in STEM are a product of workplace discrimination. The memo, and Damore's subsequent dismissal from Google, provoked a great deal of discussion and debate about the causes of STEM disparities and the origins of human sex differences. Unfortunately, much of this debate was decidedly inaccurate in its presentation of the research on the topic. A great deal was said about bias and discrimination, but relatively little about other factors contributing to STEM gender gaps (e.g., Chachra, 2017). Furthermore, to the extent that other factors were mentionedfactors such as average sex differences in academic interests these were typically attributed to socialization, rather than to biology or to a 1 Strictly speaking, the issue is not STEM per se, but rather STEM fields that focus on the non-living world, or that have a strong spatial or mathematical component. According to Ceci et al. (2014), the STEM fields should be divided into GE...

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The Academic Conference as a Chilly Climate for Women: Effects of Gender Representation on Experiences of Sexism, Coping Responses, and Career Intentions

Cited by 92 publications

References 67 publications

Sexualized images in professional contexts: Effects on anticipated experiences and perceived climate for women and men

Sexualized images in professional contexts: Effects on anticipated experiences and perceived climate for women and men

Diversity in geoscience: Participation, behaviour, and the division of scientific labour at a Canadian geoscience conference

Men, Women, and STEM: Why the Differences and What Should Be Done?

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