Clancy et al., Title IX and Social MediaChanging perceptions of the challenges faced by

#WomenInSTEMDawn Bazely, Biology, YorkU

with huge thanks to Prof Kate McPherson, History/Women’s & Gender Studies & Equity, YorkU

Welcome MUN Sexual Harassment advisor, Rhonda Shortfall

A 2013 Council of Ontario Universities Invited Sustainability Symposium at YorkU was 100% maleI emailed & spoke with the Ontario Research Chair organizers, and speakers

about the unacceptability of this 2015, they did it again (above)

What’s going on?

• Women in STEM advocacy isn’t new

• in1970s-90s policy aimed to increase female intake to STEM programmes

• science was gendered as being male,and simply needed to switch to being gender neutral

What’s going on?the policies didn’t bring the expected results of more

women at all STEM levels (a reversal of leaky pipeline)

–Mildred Dresselhaus, physicist, MIT, b.1930

Reflections of a woman pioneer, by Vijaysree Venkataraman, Nov. 11, 2014, Science

“Q: Are there hidden barriers to women’s advancement? A: Yes. I was a great believer in the idea of a critical mass of female students. With a minimum of 15% in each class, I thought the lack of isolation would be enough. The guys would get it and everything would change automatically.

In the 1980s, we were coasting toward these numbers. At the faculty level, men and women seemed to have equal chance of attaining tenure. In 1984, I became president of the American Physical Society and focused less on these women’s liberation-related issues. I genuinely believed I had done something towards bringing us closer to parity in over 15 years.

A decade later, Nancy Hopkins initiated her eye-opening study on the status of women at MIT. The data on pay scales, lab space, and other resources allotted to women showed how wrong I was. I thought numbers alone could stimulate a change in attitudes. Nancy said that we’d have to beat on these guys to change things..”

Why did the project to increase intake fail to shift cultural norms?A. Research from the Social Sciences has demonstrated the systemic impacts of implicit or unconscious bias.

B. Social media has led to increasing awareness that…

… STEM #BoysWithToys can be sexual harassers, just like in every other segment of society

… Clancy et al. 2014

What’s going on?Published: July 16, 2014

http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0102172

The infamous results…• internet survey of 666 field scientists (anthropology to agriculture)

• codes of conduct & sexual harassment policies weren’t regularly encountered

• 72% had observed or been told about inappropriate remarks/behaviours

• 64% had experienced sexual harassment (verbal)

• 21.7% had experienced sexual assault

• were discussed in the New York Times, and in journal clubs across the world

• Clancy et al. crystallized a watershed moment…

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose, but…

1. The focus of activism by women in STEM has changed from increasing intake to the pipeline, to increasing retention.

2. Title IX, old USA legislation, is being used in new ways.

3. Social Media is game-changing in connecting previously isolated Women in STEM activists and their allies.

Title IX: United States Education Amendments of 1972, Public Law No.

92‑318, 86 Stat. 235

• a US federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity.

• “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

Title IXwas used to equalize

funding for varsity sports men’s teams were getting all

the money

Title IX• the recent sexual harassment scandals have both

used Title IX (campus offices), and also exposed the weakness of existing harassment reporting protocols

• while Title IX remains in force, US institutions are clearly nervous about the funding implications of not taking action against sexual harassers with tenure

• but, despite Title IX, tenure, fame, huge research grants, and the whiff of Nobel prizes, still place a terrible burden on the victims of harassment

The Social Media Game-Changer

• creates the critical mass of women in STEM and allies imagined by Mildred Dresselhaus

• overcomes isolation

• allows networking and the sharing of stories

Thank you to Kate McPherson

TAKE HOMES1. The focus of activism by women in STEM has

changed from increasing intake to the pipeline, to increasing retention (Clancy et al. address this)

2. Title IX, old USA legislation, is being used in new ways to address sexual harassment of Women in STEM by senior male faculty

3. Social Media is connecting previously isolated Women in STEM and their allies.