Thanks to everyone who attended our kick-off event last week!
In this seminar, we were fortunate to have Dr Anaïs Llorens, Asst. Prof. Athina Tzovara, and Dr Sana Suri share their perspectives on gender bias in academia.
In the first part of the seminar, Anaïs and Athina highlighted findings from their recent review covering the many distinct challenges underlying gender bias, including challenges in funding, publication and citations, and harassment. To address gender bias in academia, we must all work together and address these issues at the individual, institutional, and societal level. We encourage you all to become an ally, no matter your background or gender. Please consider the list of resources that Anaïs and Athina shared with us for ways to create more welcoming and inclusive environments for everyone (Llorens, Tzovara, et al. 2021):
Resources | Career Stage | Description |
Authorship & Peer Review; Citations | Tool to probabilistically assign gender proportions of first/last author pairs in bibliography entries in neuroscience | |
Teaching | Tool to probabilistically assign gender (and race) of author surnames in course syllabi | |
Early Life; Teaching | Tool for tracking and analyzing patterns in student participation | |
Funding & Awards; Teaching; Hiring & Promotions | Tool designed to analyze text in recommendation letters for words commonly associated with men or women | |
Negotiations | Special report on negotiation strategies; also includes practical advice to create equitable work cultures | |
Hiring & Promotions; Negotiations | Organization dedicated to increasing the number and success of women in STEM careers; hosts career building workshops; distributes training materials | |
Conferences | Tool to compute probabilities of under- and over-representing minority speakers based on their overall representation in the field | |
Conferences | Tool to track speaker diversity at neuroscience conferences | |
Sexual Harassment | Model for developing peer-led sexual harassment prevention workshops | |
Code of Conduct templates for conferences and laboratories | Sexual Harassment; Conferences | Instructions, FAQs, and templates for developing a Code of Conduct for conferences, events, and/or research laboratories |
Authorship & Peer Review; Conferences; Intersectionality | List of databases (e.g., Anne’s List, 500 Women Scientists, 500 Queer Scientists, People of Color Also Know Stuff, Women in Neuroscience, CompCog.Science, 1000-inspiring-black-scientists-in-america, etc.) to find women and underrepresented minority speakers by field |
Llorens, Tzovara et al., Neuron, 2021
In part two of the seminar, Sana shared her powerful story as an international scientist of colour in the UK. Through her story, we learned the importance of being aware of the power we all hold as colleagues and supervisors, and to be mindful of using inclusive language. Speaking from her own experience, she beautifully articulated that when meeting with a student, “we cannot glean decades worth of potential from a single email”, so be kind and encouraging. Sana emphasised actions we can all undertake to work towards more inclusive cultures:
Being mindful of your language e.g., pronouncing and spelling your colleagues’ names correctly
Avoiding assumptions based on skin colour or name
Acknowledging that everyone has their own unique barriers, e.g., international students often face the extra hurdle of applying for visas when planning conference travel
Providing a safe space with zero tolerance for bullying and harassment
Being mindful that people may have multiple protective identities (e.g., involving race, gender, physical ability) and associated intersectional burdens unique to them
Celebrating diversity and promoting visibility e.g., talking openly about Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) and challenges
Establishing a network for minority groups: if your department does not have one, consider starting one yourself!
Thank you Anaïs, Athina, and Sana for important and engaging talks, and thank you all for attending and contributing to a lively discussion!
Kind regards, The WNN Team
We appreciate your feedback, so please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments! womensneuronetwork@gmail.com