Promising Practices for Addressing the Underrepresentation of Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine Opening Doors (2020) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 3-20
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(3) Lost talent as a result of discrimination, unconscious bias, and sexual harassment, which often prevents women from pursuing careers in sci ence, engineering, and medicine.
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carry out an analysis and synthesis of the current research on the factors that drive gender disparities in recruitment, retention, and advancement across a range of scientific, engineering, and medical disciplines and throughout the educational and career life course; (2) review the research on evidence-based strategies and practices that research has shown can improve the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in these fields, with a particular emphasis on improving the representation and inclusion of women of color; and (3)
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Conclusion 4: There are numerous effective, evidence-based strategies and practices that institutions can adopt to improve the recruitment, retention, and advancement of White women across a broad range of scientific, engineering, and medical disciplines and multiple stages of the educational and career pathway. However, additional investigation is needed specifically to understand how to support more effectively the participation of women of color and women of other intersecting identities in science, engineering, and medicine.
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The committee's recommendations offer guidance to leaders from multiple sectors on how to move forward with intentional, evidence-based strategies and policies to improve recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in science, engineering, and medicine and thereby significantly enhance national prosperity, security, and well-being. RECOMMENDATIONS The committee's recommendations are grouped into four broad categories, which are targeted at incentivizing and informing the broad adoption of evidence- based promising practices for improving the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in science, engineering, and medicine: 1.
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Although scholarly research on gender dispari ties in science, engineering, and medicine has yielded an abundance of information that can be applied toward reaching gender equity, there are critical knowledge gaps that require closer attention. These four broad categories are not, in fact, distinct, but rather are fundamentally interconnected components of a complex system of actors, incentives, and information.
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The director should task the subcommittee with publishing an annual, open-access report, modeled after NSF's summary table on programs to broaden participation in their annual budget request to Congress, that documents existing programs at each agency, with particular emphasis on programs that take an intersectional approach, accounting for the experiences of women of color and women of other intersecting identities (e.g., women with disabilities, LGBTQIA) , and the qualitative and quantitative impact of these programs, using program evaluation metrics and data, when collected.2 Action 1-B: Congress should commission a study by an independent entity, such as the Government Accountability Office, to offer an external evaluation and review of the existing federal programs focused on supporting greater equity, diversity, and inclusion in science, engineering, and medicine.
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Implementation Actions Action 2-A: Federal funding agencies should carry out an "equity audit" for grantee institutions that have received a substantial amount of funding over a long period of time to ensure that the institution is working in good faith to address gender and racial disparities in recruitment, retention, and advancement. Institutions could be electronically flagged by the funding agency for an equity audit after a certain length of funding period is reached.
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For this reason, the committee recommends that institutions adopt or adapt the strategies and practices outlined in this report and iterate over time to develop an approach that will work well for their particular institution and the people it serves. 3 Because there is a significant academic orientation to this report -- with college and university administrators being a primary audience -- the committee has configured recommendations targeted directly to higher education leaders.
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. Implementation Actions Action 3-A: College and university deans and department chairs should collect and monitor department-level demographic data, leveraging data already being collected by their institution in compliance with data reported to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, annually to determine whether there are patterns of underrepresentation among students, trainees, residents, clinical fellows, faculty, and staff, including in leadership roles.
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RECOMMENDATION 5: Taking into account the institutional context, college and university presidents, deans, department chairs, and other administrators should adopt or adapt actionable, evidence-based strategies and practices (see Implementation Actions 5A -- 5C) that directly address particular gender gaps in recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in science, engineering, and medicine within their institution, as observed by quantitative and qualitative data analysis and monitoring (see Recommendations 3 and 4 above)
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Action 5-B:5 To address issues with the recruitment of women into academic programs and science, engineering, and medical careers, admissions officers, human resources officers, and hiring committees should: a. Work continuously to identify promising candidates from underrepre sented groups and expand the networks from which candidates are drawn.
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Institutional leadership should intentionally support mentorship initiatives that recognize, respond to, value, and build upon the power of diversity. 6 See Chapter 4.
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Action 5-E: Institutional leaders, as well as individual faculty and staff, should support policies, procedures, and other infrastructure that allow mentees to engage in mentoring relationships with multiple individuals within and outside of their home department, program, or institution, such as professional societies, external conferences, learning communities, and online networks, with the ultimate goal of providing more comprehensive mentorship support. Action 5-F: Colleges and universities should provide direct and visible support for targets of sexual harassment.
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For instance, the NSF director should direct the deputy directors of the NSF Directorates for Engineering, Computer and Information Science and Engineering, and Mathematical and Physical Sciences to set aside funding and work collaboratively with the Education and Human Resources Directorate to support education grants that address the following: a. Adoption by college and university faculty and administrators of class room and lab curricula and pedagogical approaches that research has demonstrated improve interest and sense of belonging in computer sci ence, engineering, and physics among women, such as: i.
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Action 7-B: University and college administrators should appropriately compensate and recognize individuals responsible for equity and diversity oversight and equip them with sufficient resources and authority. Action 7-C: Academic senates of universities should adopt amendments to facultyreview committee criteria that formally recognize, support, and reward efforts toward increasing diversity and creating safe and inclusive research environments.
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Implementation Actions Action 8-A: NIH and NSF should collaborate to develop a recognition program that provides positive incentives to STEMM departments and programs on campuses to make diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts a high priority. Departments and programs would compete to be recognized for their success in closing gender gaps in STEMM.
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IV. FILLING KNOWLEDGE GAPS Although the committee's recommendations speak to actions that leaders and employees at academic institutions and in the government can initiate immediately to promote positive change more broadly experienced by women in science, engineering, and medicine, critical knowledge gaps still exist and must be filled, with deliberate speed, to support most effectively the improved recruitment, retention, and advancement of all women in science, engineering, and medicine.
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