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Start date: 2020Discipline: search.filters.discipline.STEM

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  • Item type:Publication,
    Turning the Tide for Academic Women in STEM: A Postpandemic Vision for Supporting Female Scientists Open PDF 
    (American Chemical Society (ACS), 2021-12-01)
    Shah, Anuj
    ;
    Lopez, Isabella
    ;
    Surnar, Bapurao
    ;
    Sarkar, Shrita
    ;
    Duthely, Lunthita M.
    The "leaky pipeline" of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), which is especially acute for academic mothers, continues to be problematic as women face continuous cycles of barriers and obstacles to advancing further in their fields. The severity and prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic both highlighted and exacerbated the unique challenges faced by female graduate students, postdocs, research staff, and principal investigators because of lockdowns, quarantines, school closures, lack of external childcare, and heightened family responsibilities, on top of professional responsibilities. This perspective provides recommendations of specific policies and practices that combat stigmas faced by women in STEM and can help them retain their careers. We discuss actions that can be taken to support women within academic institutions, journals, government/federal centers, university-level departments, and individual research groups. These recommendations are based on prior initiatives that have been successful in having a positive impact on gender equity─a central tenet of our postpandemic vision for the STEM workforce.
  • Item type:Publication,
    Female Authorship in “Women in STEM” fields: A bibliometric Analysis Open PDF 
    (Oxford University Press (OUP), 2026)
    Swanson, Morgan E
    ;
    Liebl, Andrea L
    Women in STEM and STEM-related fields face many issues preventing their sustained inclusion and success, from as early as childhood. Many issues persist into adulthood and careers, including pay disparities, hostile workplace interactions, workload imbalances, and uneven expectations in domestic roles. A growing body of literature seeks to address and analyze female disparities by studying and publishing research related to societal and cultural issues faced by women in STEM. However, the gender of the authors of literature focusing on this type of research also matters as a woman's experience in STEM might provide a different context; equally, male allyship is imperative to furthering gains made in the field. To determine what proportion of authors publishing on female disparity in STEM fields are women, we employed a large-scale bibliometric study to examine the trends in the proportion of three metrics of female authorship on publications related to "Women in STEM" topics; specifically, we analyzed the total female authors, female first authors, and female last authors of 7240 published manuscripts. Literature published between 2000 and 2024 was accessed using a search engine with nine search terms related to issues facing women in STEM, including terms about gender parity, gender inequity, gender attrition, pay gaps, the leaky pipeline, student gender bias, and motherhood in STEM. Overall, the proportion of female authors in any position, including specifically as both first and last author, increased over the period of our study. Our results also indicate a sustained overrepresentation of female authors during the latter portions of our analysis. These results highlight an increase in female authorship on "Women in STEM" literature and demonstrate that female researchers are becoming more central in studying these topics. Although increasing female participation in subjects related to women in STEM is important for perspective, context, and solutions, male inclusion is also important to ensure buy-in in the workplace and allow an equal distribution of labor.
  • Item type:Publication,
    Monitoring the gender gap in the coverage of biology professors on Wikipedia Open PDF 
    (The Royal Society, 2026-05-27)
    Alvarez-Ponce, David
    ;
    Iyengar, Niveda
    Women are under-represented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, especially in senior positions. One known reason is the limited visibility of female scientists, which discourages young women from entering STEM fields, thus perpetuating the gender gap. A number of studies have shown that women, including those in academia, are less likely to have a Wikipedia biography than their male counterparts, and that, when they have a biography, it tends to be underdeveloped. Since Wikipedia informs a large portion of society on a daily basis-especially young people-who is covered on the platform, and who is excluded from it, matters. Therefore, a number of projects have been created to increase women's coverage on Wikipedia. Using a recently generated census of 2104 female and 3721 male tenured and tenure-eligible faculty members affiliated with the biology departments of all United States R1 universities, we examined the extent to which biology faculty are covered on Wikipedia. Women in the census were significantly less likely to be featured on the platform than their male peers until 2018. However, the trend reversed in 2022, and women were 25% more likely than men to have a Wikipedia biography in 2024. In addition, women's biographies tend to be longer than those of men. Our results highlight the importance and effectiveness of projects aimed at improving women's coverage on Wikipedia.
  • Item type:Publication,
    Breaking the glass door in academia? Looking at the role of scientific fields and contextual factors in moderating the gender gap in recruitment: evidence from Italy Open PDF 
    (Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2025-07-15)
    Gaiaschi, Camilla
    Women's presence in academia has sharply increased in recent years, but gender inequalities in career progression persist. Italy makes no exception to this trend as different studies on the promotion gap to associate and to full professors have suggested. However, no measure of the adjusted gender differential in the previous steps of the career, that is in the transition from the post-doc to the assistant professor position, has been provided so far. This paper aims to fulfill this gap by means of an original, longitudinal, and multi-source dataset on the Italian academic population which has allowed to measure the female disadvantage in recruitment by controlling for a large set of confounding characteristics including individual productivity and, most especially, contextual factors, which have been under-explored so far. Results suggest that women face a small adjusted penalty, of around 3-4%, in academic recruitment. However, when disentangling the analyses by scientific field, strong differences emerge, with the gap reaching a maximum of - 10% in physics while being non-significant in many SSH. Within the STEMM, the life sciences, driven by medicine and biology, appear more gender unequal than many hard sciences. Moreover, a growing number of female full professors in the sub-field and working in a department with good financial resources represent two factors that have a moderate role in reducing the gap. All in all, this work sheds light on the importance of organizational and institutional factors in explaining the gender gap thus calling for structural interventions to make universities more inclusive towards women.
  • Item type:Publication,
    Racism, sexism, and classism: The uneven terrain of student belonging in introductory biology classrooms Open PDF 
    (American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), 2026-06-01)
    Donham, Cristine
    ;
    Madison, Matthew J.
    ;
    Andrews, Tessa C.
    ;
    Eddy,, Sarah L
    Sense of belonging supports student success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), yet prior research indicates that systemic inequities shape who feels included in college classrooms. Racism, sexism, and classism can shape students' belonging, which then can impact their outcomes. We studied students' sense of belonging in 56 large introductory biology courses that used active learning, reaching more than 4900 students. We used a QuantCrit methodological framework and hierarchical linear models to examine how the intersection of racism and sexism, and racism and classism, related to three components of students' belonging. Racism impacted groups differently, and its impact varied across intersecting identities and components of belonging. Sexism undermined women's comfort sharing ideas in class and seeking instructor help across racial/ethnic groups. Women in some racial/ethnic groups experienced greater connectedness to classmates than men. Classism diminished students' sense of belonging across most racial/ethnic groups. Disaggregating students into more racial/ethnic groups revealed important differences in the experiences of Native American, Latiné, Black/African, and two groups of Asian students. These findings demonstrate that within the same classroom, students can have profoundly different experiences and challenge us to recognize the influence of intersecting forms of oppression on our students.
  • Item type:Publication,
    Changing the narrative: Resilience of women in STEM in sub-Saharan Africa and institutional innovations to advance equity Open PDF 
    (Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2026-01-21)
    Fisher, Monica
    ;
    Nyabaro, Violet
    ;
    Mendum, Ruth
    ;
    Ganguly, Sujata
    ;
    Osiru, Moses
    Gender disparities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) remain pronounced in many African countries, particularly at the postgraduate level. This study explores the experiences of African women in STEM postgraduate education by integrating data from an online survey of 163 female PhD alumni from 40 African universities in 17 countries and seven focus group discussions (FGDs) with 39 current postgraduate students across three countries. Through a mixed-methods approach, we examine both the challenges women face and the factors that enable their persistence and success. Over 60% of respondents reported financial stress during their PhD, and more than half felt unprepared at the time of program entry. Yet 95% expressed confidence in their ability to succeed, reflecting strong self-efficacy despite structural barriers. In the FGDs, women highlighted the burden of caregiving responsibilities, lack of role models, and cultural norms that pressure them to prioritize family over academic careers. Contrary to common assumptions, most FGD participants preferred male supervisors, citing competitiveness or lack of support from some senior women. Despite these obstacles, participants demonstrated high levels of resilience, often driven by a passion for science and strong family support. Our findings highlight the need for family-friendly policies, structured and tailored mentoring, and flexible, gender-responsive institutional reforms to ensure more inclusive and equitable STEM postgraduate environments in Africa.
  • Item type:Publication,
    Celebrating women in academia and addressing underrepresentation Open PDF 
    (American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), 2026-01-01)
    Lerit, Dorothy A.
    ;
    Powers, Maureen A.
    ;
    Segarra, Verónica
    The barriers limiting the number of women appointed, retained, and promoted in academia are well documented. Addressing these barriers is key to increasing participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), which in turn is essential for maintaining a well-trained and competitive workforce and educational system. The success stories of tenacious individuals who persisted despite the many barriers placed before them serve both as potent reminders of hard-fought gains in equal access and opportunities and as inspiration to current and aspiring scientists. When concepts like diversity, equity, and inclusion are rebranded as discriminatory, how do academic institutions respond to the challenge to encourage broad participation in STEM?
  • Item type:Publication,
    A Process Evaluation of a Program to Retain Clinical Scientists with Caregiving Responsibilities Open PDF 
    (SAGE Publications, 2025-01-01)
    Madden, Devin A.
    ;
    Lin, Jenny J.
    ;
    Berhane, Timnit
    ;
    Deshpande, Richa
    ;
    Horowitz, Carol R.
    Introduction: Caregiving responsibilities in academic science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine disproportionately impact early-career faculty, particularly women, exacerbating stress, mental health challenges, and career progression barriers. The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) launched the Fund to Retain Clinical Scientists to support clinician-scientists facing these challenges, expanding efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai leveraged DDCF funding in 2021 to expand its Distinguished Scholar Award (DSA) program, first launched in 2020. Methods: To enhance faculty support, we convened an interdisciplinary team with expertise in faculty development, integrating tailored programming through collaborative working sessions. In 2022, seven scholars were funded; in 2023, five were awarded. The cohorts represented diverse gender identities, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and research disciplines. Results: Summative evaluations revealed that 83% of respondents found quarterly check-ins with program directors most useful, followed by “Meet the Expert” sessions (67%). Findings highlight the value of structured mentorship and institutional support in fostering research continuity and gender equity. Discussion: Over 2 years, the DSA program provided both financial and professional development support, addressing key challenges faced by junior faculty with caregiving responsibilities. While scholars benefited from mentorship and career development opportunities, participation in additional resources varied, raising questions about how best to balance program structure with flexibility. The ongoing challenge remains on how to equitably support caregivers in science and medicine without adding undue burdens. Our experience underscores the importance of continued dialogue and strategic program refinement to ensure lasting impact.
  • Item type:Publication,
    Global patterns of gender disparities in STEM and explanations for their persistence Open PDF 
    (Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2024-11-18)
    Cheryan, Sapna
    ;
    Lombard, Ella J.
    ;
    Hailu, Fasika
    ;
    Pham, Linh N. H.
    ;
    Weltzien, Katherine
    Women and girls are underrepresented in many, though not all, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields around the world. In this Review, we describe four key factors that help explain the continued underrepresentation of women in STEM. In many parts of the world, women lack access to education and job opportunities, preventing them from pursuing STEM. In places where women do have educational and professional opportunities, masculine cultures — shaped by both masculine defaults and differential treatment — can hinder entry and retention of women in STEM fields. Addressing masculine cultures is important to increase the representation of women, and research has identified multiple promising avenues for intervention. When masculine cultures remain, gender disparities can be reduced by increasing the positive experiences of women and girls in STEM. Finally, choices made by men to enter some STEM fields also contribute to the underrepresentation of women in these fields. We conclude by reviewing promising future directions for research on gender disparities in STEM, including examining the intersections of these factors, sociopolitical and economic contexts, and the experiences of trans and non-binary individuals and people with multiple marginalized identities in STEM.
  • Item type:Publication,
    Feminization of the precarious at the UNAM: Examining obstacles to gender equality Open PDF 
    (Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2025-10-29)
    Ciccia, Lu
    ;
    Espinosa-Lugo, Geraldine
    ;
    Garcia-Guzman, Graciela
    ;
    Gasca-Pineda, Jaime
    ;
    Velez, Patricia
    The STEM workforce is marked by the persistent underrepresentation of women. Herein, we seek a better understanding of this gender gap in different science disciplines within Latin America. Specifically, we analyzed a case study: the professional development of women in science research institutes of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). This interdisciplinary work analyzed quantitative and qualitative data through an intersectional philosophical lens, employing specific analytical tools drawn from feminist epistemology. We examined the interplay between horizontal and vertical segregation, symbolic and structural obstacles, and economic labor precariousness within the framework of gender norms. Shared trends in the Global North were analyzed to understand the perpetuation of gender stereotypes in the production of scientific knowledge. Additionally, we examined the relationship between the values embedded in gender norms and the cultural capital--here defined as encompassing both economic status and social legitimacy--associated with each discipline. Our findings indicate that, although women are underrepresented in pSTEM, they experience less vertical segregation than their counterparts in STEM related to the Natural Sciences. This suggests that knowledge areas currently associated with the highest cultural capital (pSTEM) may impose primarily symbolic rather than structural barriers for women. By contrast, in fields characterized by less masculine-coded values, women appear to face predominantly structural obstacles, as evidenced by the vertical segregation observed. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of the gender biases that exclude women from STEM disciplines.