Dawn Bazely discusses her experience advocating for women in STEM fields over several decades. She notes that while policies in the 1970s-90s aimed to increase the number of women in STEM, they failed to shift cultural norms due to unconscious biases. Recent research on implicit biases and social media movements like #MeToo have led to a greater awareness of barriers like harassment. Bazely emphasizes the importance of addressing retention, not just the pipeline, and highlights the role of social media in connecting advocates and applying pressure for policy changes to promote diversity and inclusion.

1. One Biology professor’s experience with
raising the conversation about ongoing
barriers faced by women in STEM in
Canada
Indira Gandhi Centre Conference Hall
Women’s Studies, Visva Bharati University, West Bengal
11:00 am March 17, 2018
Dawn Bazely, Faculty of Science, York University, Toronto, Canada
with huge thanks to Prof Kate McPherson, History/Women’s & Gender Studies & Equity,
YorkU for situating my thoughts in a scholarly framework

2. Thank you for!!
• What brings me here today to 🗣
• Old Conversations from the 1970s-90s
• New Conversations from the last 5 years that shed
light on ongoing systemic resistance to equity,
diversity, and inclusivity in STEM (science,
technology, engineering & mathematics)
• Some concrete steps for us to Take Action

4. 1980-84 — field work on Hudson Bay, Canada
About 2,000 km or > 1,200 miles: similar distance from here to Bengaluru

5. 2017: Receiving honorific title of University Professor, York University

6. But, I’m still not satisfied
• 1992 report from York
University Faculty of Graduate
Studies
• I joined York University, Toronto
in 1990
• I became a member of the
committee supporting the
Advisor on the Status of
Women to the York U president
• I thought we were on the right
track 🚊

7. A 2013 Council of Ontario Universities Invited
Sustainability Symposium at YorkU was 100% male
I emailed & spoke with the Ontario Research Chair organizers, and speakers about the unacceptability of this
2015, 2 of them did it again (above, starred)
http://dawnbazely.lab.yorku.ca/2015/09/open-letter-asking-the-canadian-academic-stem-community-to-
improve-gender-balance-in-speaker-line-ups/
http://sciencepolicy.ca/simple-policy-will-shift-social-norms-right-direction-canadian-women-stem
Proximate cause of what brought me here today

8. Proximate cause of what brought me here today

9. 2014-15: #YorkUSci50
anniversary celebrations
• the organizing committee selected a
keynote alumni speaker who was a
white man
• I proposed that they add a more
diverse speaker line-up who reflect
our student demographics
•
no luck — 🙉🙈🙊
• so, with science profs, Sampa Bhadra
and Michael de Robertis, I organized
an alternative conference
• it featured women alumni & the retired
Dean of Science & Engineering (right)
Proximate cause of what brought me here today

10. Old Stuff from the 1970s-90s
• Women in STEM advocacy
isn’t new
• in1970s-90s many policies
aimed to increase female
intake to STEM programmes
• science was gendered as
being male, and simply
needed to switch to being
gender neutral
Old Stuff

11. What’s going on?
the policies didn’t bring the expected results of more women
at all STEM levels (i.e. a reversal of the leaky pipeline)
Old Stuff

12. –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..”
Old Stuff

13. Why did the 1970s-90s project to increase
female 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
New Stuff

14. Take the Harvard Implicit
Bias Test
• To help you to overcome your
confirmation bias
• I did
• I discovered that I’m racist &
sexist
• I unconsciously defer to white
males as authority figures
• YES, ME 😟😳😱😤🤔
New Stuff

15. Unconscious Bias is Everywhere
• Prof. Ben Schmidt,
Northeastern University
studies the history of #BigData
• Interactive tool that analyzes
how students use descriptive
words to describe professors’
teaching
• By discipline, gender, and
whether rating was positive or
negative

16. Gendered Language in Student Evaluations of Teachers
Positive Reviews Negative Reviews

17. Gendered Language in Student Evaluations of Teachers
Positive Reviews Negative Reviews

18. Why did the 1970s-90s project to increase
female 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
New Stuff

19. New Stuff
Some other indicators
of Women in STEM
policy failure
in 2013

20. New Stuff

21. New Stuff

22. New Stuff
October 2017 #TimesUp
#MeToo

23. There are increasing calls for more films by women, about
women, including women of colour, and men.
E.g. Hidden Figures is about the black women
mathematicians who were integral to NASA’s space race.
INTERSECTIONALITY is an important concept.

24. What’s going on?
Published: July 16, 2014
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0102172
New Stuff

25. 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…
New Stuff

26. Plus ça change, plus c'est la
même chose? But…
1. The focus of activism around women in STEM has
changed from increasing pipeline intake, to increasing
retention.
2. Title IX, old USA legislation, is being used in new ways
to address sexual harassment of Women in STEM by
senior male faculty (see my SWEEET 2016 talk). UK has
Athena SWAN & Australia has SAGE Pilot.
3. Social Media is game-changing in connecting
previously isolated Women in STEM activists and their
allies.
New Stuff

27. 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
• leverages & magnifies
local, individual action
Take action

28. Networking uncovers allies
• Some Twitter women in
STEM advocates:
• Mel Thomson & Jenny
Martin in Australia
• Victoria Metcalfe in New
Zealand
• Hilary Lappin-Scott in
Wales, UK
Take action

29. Networking uncovers allies
• In 2015, we learned that
Dr. Mel Thomson,
@DrMel_T, was visiting
New York City from
Australia
• We invited her to take a
side trip to Toronto
• She spoke about SAGE
Pilot Australia, which was
modelled on Athena SWAN
Take action

30. Networking uncovers allies
• nearer home: Laurier
University doctoral student,
Eden Hennessey
• her sociology research
examines barriers faced by
Women in STEM through a
photographic art lens
• #DistractinglyHonest &
#DistractinglySexist are
travelling exhibits
Take action

34. Bringing regular, annual International
Ada Lovelace Day events to Canada
• In 2013 I started discussing the idea of
Ada Lovelace Day with Science &
Engineering Librarian, John Dupuis
(right, centre)
• In 2015 we held our first event at YorkU
in October
• Lassonde School of Engineering had
just hired an Assistant Dean of Inclusivity
& Diversity, Marisa Sterling P. Eng.
• John & I asked Marisa to get involved
• http://dawnbazely.lab.yorku.ca/2016/07/
six-steps-to-making-your-very-own-ada-
lovelace-day-in-fall-2016/
Take action

35. About Ada Lovelace Day #ALD
• An International celebration of
Women in STEM
• Named for the first computer
programmer, Countess Ada
Lovelace (1815—1852)
• Founded in 2009 by Suw
Charman-Anderson
• YorkU inaugural ALD speaker,
Prof. Imogen Coe, Dean of
Science, Ryerson University
(right)
Take action

36. #ALD2016 #YorkU: Astrophysicist & Canada
Research Chair, Professor Bryan Gaensler
Bryan’s talk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JB9BMIE6WI
Take action

37. #ALD2017 #YorkU: Science communicator & social
justice activist, Elly Zupko
#WomenAreAllOverIt T-shirt
Elly’s talk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-
JWLsaXp2g&t=311s
Take action

38. Wikipedia Edit-a-thons
• A popular Ada Lovelace Day
activity
• Recognizes that women are
under-represented in
Wikipedia
• Edit-a-thons edit and create
Wikipedia pages for notable
women in STEM
• Judy Myers from slide 9:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Judith_H._Myers
Take action

39. Wikipedia Edit-a-thon:
Visva Bharati, March 20, 2018
• There’s lots of “how-to” advice
• It’s easier than it looks
• PROOF: I learned to do it
• Find a friendly STEM librarian
to help you
• My Prof. Kathy Martin page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Judith_H._Myers
Take action

40. Educate senior STEM academics &
get them to be Active Bystanders
• students cannot be expected to bear the burden of change
• senior academics must create the space for the conversation & be held accountable for
not taking appropriate action
• https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/academic-gossip-network-fails-punish-
senior-scientists
Take action

41. Prof. Michael Kimmel TED talk

42. This includes nominating
women for prestigious awards
In 2016, my colleague, Prof. Imogen Coe, Dean of Science at Ryerson
University, Toronto, was named one of:
Take action

43. Imogen brought Soapbox Science to Canada in 2017
Since giving the Inaugural Ada Lovelace Day lecture in 2015, Imogen speaks weekly,
nationally & internationally on Equity, Diversity & Inclusivity and Women in STEM

44. In 2017, Dean
Imogen Coe co-
hosted a
roundtable: EDI in
STEM — forging
paths to enhanced
innovation
Ass’t Dean Marisa
Sterling, P. Eng.
organizes the
annual Dec. 4th
remembrance of the
1989 Montreal
Massacre

45. Post-Truth Fake News
Proximate cause of what got me here today

46. I was also an organizer of Toronto’s March for Science 2017

47. Toronto’s March for Science 2017: everyone turned out

48. As actions supporting women in STEM & equity, diversity &
inclusion for under-represented minorities snowball, I support
emerging leaders, like Prof. Sapna Sharma, below.
+ Kirsty Duncan, Canada’s Federal Science Minister is
listening: New Canada Research Chairs must take account of
Equity, Diversity & Inclusivity research

49. TAKE HOMES
1. 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 (under threat), is being used
in new ways to address sexual harassment of Women in
STEM by senior male faculty. UK has Athena SWAN &
Australia has SAGE Pilot.
3. Social Media is connecting previously isolated Women
in STEM and their allies & supporting and extending
involvement to push for policy changes.

50. Then thi happened in the last 48 hours. One female STEM graduate student at the
University of Toronto penned a deeply personal criticism, in Science Magazine (AAAS),
of the instagram science communication and outreach activities of a fellow female
graduate known for her sartorial style.
Full disclosure: Samantha Yammine & I did Soapbox Science at Ryerson University in
2017

55. Thank you to Kate McPherson