Imagine this: you are at work, casually discussing your weekend plans with colleagues. One is planning a hike with her husband. Another jokes about meeting his girlfriend’s parents for dinner, nerves barely concealed. Then you mention a date night with your partner. The conversation halts. The atmosphere becomes taut. One of your colleagues makes a swift exit. Later that day, your boss calls you i ...[Read More]
Why Earth and Space Sciences need to dismantle the cis-het-white boys’ club
The Earth and space sciences, like many STEM fields, have long been dominated by a narrow vision of who belongs. But the tide is turning. A 2023 workplace climate survey of Earth and space scientists highlights both the persistent barriers queer and other historically excluded scientists face and the urgent need for cultural shifts within the discipline. The data is clear: the geosciences must now ...[Read More]
Women claim their space in science and encourage you to do the same!
The world we live in today has innumerably more career options than our parents and their parents did. But women and young girls continue to be a minority when it comes to careers in science. Experts call this the “STEM Gap”, where STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. According to a UNESCO report, women still only make up 28% of the STEM workforce. Two of the leading r ...[Read More]
More and more molehills – The effect of accumulated unconscious gender bias
“Who are these men?!” he says, seeming genuinely baffled. I feel my shoulders rise towards my ears with tension as I wait for him to continue. The man is summarizing what his group, comprised solely of men, have arrived at during their group-discussion at the gender equality seminar we are taking. We have been presented with, I might say, “the usual” statistics for academic women. A pr ...[Read More]