scholarly journals Undergraduates’ awareness of White and male privilege in STEM

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Dancy ◽  
Katherine Rainey ◽  
Elizabeth Stearns ◽  
Roslyn Mickelson ◽  
Stephanie Moller
Keyword(s):  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
White Men ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
White People ◽  
Gender And Race ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Systemic Factors ◽  
And Gender

Abstract Background It is well-documented that experiences in STEM courses for women and students of color are different from the experiences of White men. As part of a larger interview study, 183 college seniors from diverse gender and race backgrounds were asked their thoughts on whether the experience of being a STEM major was different for people of different races and genders. We use a framework of “science as White property”, derived from critical race theory, to frame this study and results. Results White men were largely unaware of any impact of race or gender. In contrast, women of color overwhelmingly report, consistent with results from a large body of prior research, that both race and gender impact their experiences as STEM majors. Students who acknowledged race and gender impacts did not always attribute these impacts to cultural or systemic factors (i.e., some reported women are underrepresented because they are less interested in STEM rather than a structural reason). Impacts identified that were attributable to systemic factors included impacts related to being a demographic minority (i.e., intimidation, feeling out of place, feeling pressure to work harder) and/or discrimination (i.e., job discrimination, bias against women or people of color and cultural assumptions implying the superiority of White people and men). A small number of students (mostly White women) stated that women or people of color benefit from their underrepresented status, often attributing this benefit to a perception of extra encouragement and opportunities. A common theme across categorizations was that women and students of color work harder than men and White people either because they are perceived to be harder workers or as a response to the sexism and racism they encounter. Conclusions We found that White men are largely unaware of the impacts of race or gender on the pursuit of a STEM degree. Additionally, with the exception of women of color, students are less likely to perceive race as having an impact on the experiences of students than gender. We conclude with a discussion of implications for future work related to gender and race representation in STEM.

scholarly journals Intersectionality, Identity Politics and Violence Against Women of Color

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw
Keyword(s):  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
White Women ◽  
Racial Violence ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Racial Stratification ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Experiences Of Women

Identity-based politics has been a source of strength for people of color, gays and lesbians, among others. The problem with identity politics is that it often conflates intra group differences. Exploring the various ways in which race and gender intersect in shaping structural and political aspects of violence against these women, it appears the interests and experiences of women of color are frequently marginalized within both feminist  and antiracist discourses. Both discourses have failed to consider the intersections of racism and patriarchy. However,  the location of women of color at the intersection of race and gender makes our actual experience of domestic violence, rape, and remedial reform quite different from that of white women. Similarly, both feminist and antiracist politics have functioned in tandem to marginalize the issue of violence against women of color. The effort to politicize violence against women will do little to address the experiences of nonwhite women until the ramifications of racial stratification among women are acknowledged. At the same time, the anti-racist agenda will not be furthered by suppressing the reality of intra-racial violence against women of color. The effect of both these marginalizations is that women of color have no ready means to link their experiences with those of other women.

scholarly journals “We’re Being Released to a Jungle”: The State of Prisoner Reentry and the Resilience of Women of Color

2019 ◽  
Vol 99 (4) ◽  
pp. 459-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Garcia-Hallett
Keyword(s):  
Women Of Color ◽  
Prisoner Reentry ◽  
The State ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Social Structural ◽  
Before And After ◽  
And Gender

The punitive carceral system is expected to tame people of color into docile bodies through their imprisonment. Furthermore, the oppressive and punitive U.S. context embodies patriarchy and injustice in which women of color endure unique obstacles at the intersection of race and gender. Given the power structures built to destabilize women of color before and after incarceration, this study uses interview data to examine their perseverance through carceral systems. The findings illustrate how oppressive regimes shape postincarceration obstacles and explore how women of color combat social-structural inequalities after incarceration.

scholarly journals Balancing Research and Service in Academia: Gender, Race, and Laboratory Tasks

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Candace Miller ◽  
Josipa Roksa
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
White Men ◽  
Racial Groups ◽  
Gender And Race ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Gendered Organizations ◽  
Minority Men ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Racial Ethnic ◽  
Depth Interviews

Our study highlights specific ways in which race and gender create inequality in the workplace. Using in-depth interviews with 67 biology PhD students, we show how engagement with research and service varies by both gender and race. By considering the intersection between gender and race, we find not only that women biology graduate students do more service than men, but also that racial and ethnic minority men do more service than white men. White men benefit from a combination of racial and gender privilege, which places them in the most advantaged position with respect to protected research time and opportunities to build collaborations and networks beyond their labs. Racial/ethnic minority women emerge as uniquely disadvantaged in terms of their experiences relative to other groups. These findings illuminate how gendered organizations are also racialized, producing distinct experiences for women and men from different racial groups, and thus contribute to theorizing the intersectional nature of inequality in the workplace.

scholarly journals Gender, Family, Race, and the Colonial State in Early Nineteenth-Century Jamaica

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Aaron Graham
Keyword(s):  
White Women ◽  
White Men ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Women And Children ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
And Gender

Abstract Recent work has emphasized the role of colonial state structures in the construction and enforcement of race and gender in the British Empire from the seventeenth century onward, particularly among people of color. But work on the parallel phenomenon of “Whiteness” has focused on White men rather than White women and children, on elites rather than those below them, and on North America rather than the Caribbean. This article, using the records of a “Clergy Fund” established in Jamaica in 1797 as an insurance scheme for the (White) widows and orphans of clergymen, therefore addresses a gap in this literature by providing a case study of how a colonial state in the Caribbean tried—and failed—to construct and enforce race and gender among White women and children from outside the elite, during a period when White society in the region seemed under threat.

Women of Color in Academia

2019 ◽  
pp. 105-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia M. Bermúdez ◽  
Rachel R. Camacho
Keyword(s):  
Women Of Color ◽  
Transnational Feminism ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Faculty Of Color ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
White People ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Systemic Nature ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Women Faculty Of Color

This chapter addresses the intersecting roles of race and gender that impact the lives of women faculty of color. The authors explore the overt and covert acts of hostility that they experienced while co-teaching a graduate-level class and challenged the racism and sexism embodied by some of their students. White fragility speaks to a state in which some White people refuse to acknowledge the systemic nature of racism from which they benefit on a daily basis, instead redirecting attention toward their feelings of discomfort when confronted with their racist behaviors. Hegemonic masculinity speaks to the ways in which some men benefit from political, social, and economic systems that legitimize patriarchy and the subordination of women. These phenomena, rooted in colonialist and imperialist histories that transnational feminism works to destabilize, viscerally affect women of color in the academy.

scholarly journals Advancing Women of Color in STEM: An Imperative for U.S. Global Competitiveness

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary V. Alfred ◽  
Sarah M. Ray ◽  
Michele A. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Early Years ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Childhood Experiences ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Global Competitiveness ◽  
And Gender ◽  
And Mathematics

The Problem The underrepresentation of people of color in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has become a crisis of significant proportion. The crisis is more pronounced when we examine participation by race and gender and explore how these two primary identity dimensions serve to marginalize women of color in STEM fields. These differential representations start during the early years and continue within institutions of higher education and the workplace. The Solution To address the absence of women of color in STEM, it is important to understand the forces that hinder and support their career development, beginning with early childhood experiences and throughout education and work environments. Interventions promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion must start in early and secondary education and continue through academia and the workplace. Stakeholders Addressing this crisis is the responsibility of leaders of public and higher education and those of business and industry.

Children's use of race and gender as cues to social status

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tara M Mandalaywala ◽  
Christine Tai ◽  
Marjorie Rhodes
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Black People ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Developmental Outcomes ◽  
White People ◽  
Access To Resources ◽  
Social Hierarchies ◽  
Gender And Race ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
And Gender

Social hierarchies are ubiquitous and determine a range of developmental outcomes, yet little is known about when children develop beliefs about status hierarchies in their communities. The present studies (3.5-6.9 years; N = 420) found that children begin to use gender and race as cues to status in early childhood, but that gender and race related to different status dimensions and had different consequences for inter-group attitudes. Children expected boys to hold higher status as defined by access to resources and decision-making power (e.g., having more toys and choosing what other people play with) but did not expect boys to have more wealth overall. Gender-related status beliefs did not relate to gender-related social preferences; instead, children preferred members of their own gender, regardless of their status beliefs. In contrast, children expected White people to be wealthier than Black people, and among some populations of children, the belief that White people were higher status (as defined by access to resources and decision-making power) weakly related to pro-White bias. Children’s status-expectations about others were unrelated to beliefs about their own status, suggesting children more readily apply category-based status beliefs to others than to themselves.

scholarly journals How policy influence varies with race and gender in the US courts of appeals

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 205316802110294
Author(s):  
Rachael K. Hinkle
Keyword(s):  
Small Group ◽  
White Men ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Courts Of Appeals ◽  
Social Constructions ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
Group Environment ◽  
The Us ◽  
And Gender

Even when women and people of color achieve positions of political power, institutional norms may combine with social constructions of difference to create a system in which power is distributed disproportionately. Such a pattern is evident in the US courts of appeals. Each case is resolved by a panel of three judges who also decide whether the opinion should be binding precedent (i.e., published) or not. I theorized that the variety of views and extended deliberation often attributed to diversity in a small-group environment depressed the rate of publication if judges were willing to compromise on the outcome but less willing to publish an opinion after such compromise. Using a massive original dataset of virtually all dispositive circuit opinions from 2002 to 2012, I found that homogeneous panels (98% of which are composed of white men) shaped policy more frequently than diverse panels.

Changes in the Structure and Quality of Jobs in the United States: Effects by Race and Gender, 1973–1990

ILR Review ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 420-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maury B. Gittleman ◽  
David R. Howell
Keyword(s):  
White Men ◽  
Work Force ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sharp Drop ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Female Workers ◽  
Job Classification ◽  
Employment Share ◽  
And Gender

Using 17 measures of job quality from the 1980 Census, the Current Population Survey, and the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, the authors perform a cluster analysis that groups 621 jobs covering 94% of the work force into six job categories (termed “contours”), a job classification closely resembling those suggested by labor market segmentation theory. The distribution of employment over the period 1973–90 shifted sharply away from the two middle-quality contours toward the two highest-quality contours. The two lowest-quality contours show no decline in employment share in the 1980s. The declining relative position of employed black and Hispanic men stems from both a worsening job mix relative to white men and a sharp drop in the quality of low-skill jobs. Female workers experienced both a greater shift away from jobs in the lower-quality contours and higher real earnings growth within each job contour than male workers.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document