A “scientific diversity” intervention to reduce gender bias in a sample of life scientists

Abstract

Mounting experimental evidence suggests that subtle gender biases favoring men contribute to the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), including many subfields of the life sciences. However, there are relatively few evaluations of diversity interventions designed to reduce gender biases within the STEM community. Because gender biases distort the meritocratic evaluation and advancement of students, interventions targeting instructors’ biases are particularly needed. We evaluated one such intervention, a workshop called “Scientific Diversity” that was consistent with an established framework guiding the development of diversity interventions designed to reduce biases and was administered to a sample of life science instructors (N = 126) at several sessions of the National Academies Summer Institute for Undergraduate Education held nationwide. Evidence emerged indicating the efficacy of the “Scientific Diversity” workshop, such that participants were more aware of gender bias, expressed less gender bias, and were more willing to engage in actions to reduce gender bias 2 weeks after participating in the intervention compared with 2 weeks before the intervention. Implications for diversity interventions aimed at reducing gender bias and broadening the participation of women in the life sciences are discussed. At the 2015 World Conference of Science Journalists, biochemist and Nobel laureate Tim Hunt delivered controversial remarks suggesting that the inclusion of women in science labs may undermine scientific productivity (Thomason, 2015). After many colleagues critiqued these remarks as inappropriate and undermining women’s advancement (Nature, 2015), Hunt was asked to resign from several professional positions, including an honorary professorship (Bever, 2015). And yet, his remarks highlight the continued prevalence of subtle gender biases in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Indeed, many have called for the implementation of validated diversity interventions designed to educate science faculty and reduce pernicious gender biases (Al-Gazali et al., 2013; Moss-Racusin et al., 2014; Nature, 2015). However, relatively few validated interventions targeting gender bias are available for use in the STEM community (Moss-Racusin et al., 2014). Although some recent studies suggest that existing interventions can reduce gender bias (Jackson et al., 2014; Carnes et al., 2015), relatively little empirical research has assessed the effectiveness of existing STEM gender bias interventions. The current work addresses this gap by examining life science instructors’ responses to an evidence-based intervention designed to target subtle gender bias.