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This section includes news releases about the project and, more in general, studies on gender and diversity with particular emphasis on STEM disciplines.

  • Colleen Flaherty

    Perceptions of Productivity and Parenting

    "Rather than gender, the researchers found that the biggest productivity gap during the pandemic might be between parents and nonparents",  says Colleen Flaherty citing the working paper by Breuning et al. in Political Science Education and Profession.

  • Changes in levels and allocations of work time (Myers et al., 2020)

    Unequal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on scientists

    COVID-19 has not affected all scientists equally. A survey of principal investigators indicates that female scientists, those in the ‘bench sciences’ and, especially, scientists with young children experienced a substantial decline in time devoted to research. This could have important short- and longer-term effects on their careers, which institution leaders and funders need to address carefully.

  • Screenshot of introductory video link

    MOOC on Teaching and Learning in the Diverse Classroom: starts October 1 and runs for 5 weeks

    Cornell University is offering a free MOOC on Teaching and Learning in the Diverse Classroom. It starts on October 1 and runs for the five weeks. Almost 6000 faculty have already enrolled!

    Alternatively, you can request a facilitator's guide to run a faculty learning community at your institution using this form.

  • Science Lab from Getty Images

    Women researchers are publishing less since the pandemic hit. What can their employers do to help?

    “If you’re a woman and you have small children at home, or you have to take care of an ailing relative or your household, it is much more difficult to have three days or four days where you can just travel,” Bredella said. 

    Recipients will also benefit from mentorship at the institution they’re visiting, Bredella added.

    “I cannot emphasize this enough — how important it is to have a diverse set of mentors around the world in different areas,” she said.

  • Woman on clock chased by COVID-19 virus. istock.com/krizzdapaul

    The problems with Pausing the Tenure Clock

    Colleges have not thoroughly examined the cost of such well-intentioned measures and how they might exacerbate racial and gender inequalities, Reem Khamis-Dakwar and Josh Hiller argue.

  • Colleen Flaherty

    Gender, Race, COVID-19, and the Case Against Tenure-Clock Stoppages

    The authors "caution against one popular COVID-19-era accommodation, in particular, however: tenure-clock stoppages. Instead of advantaging scholars by giving them more time to work toward tenure, the authors say, stoppages hurt scholars by decreasing their long-term earning potential, putting them out of sync with time-restricted funding mechanisms and delaying the power than comes with tenure, such as applying for large research center grants that require the principal investigator be tenured."

  • Graph of preprints in three scientific databases showing percentage of women authors

    Gender Gap in Research Output Widens During Pandemic

    Experts identify childcare, which tends to fall to women, as one likely cause for the relative decrease in women’s scientific productivity compared with men’s.

  • Woman in lab. Credit: Getty Images

    Black Women Scientists Missing from Biology Textbooks - Study

    Scientists featured in textbooks are predominantly white men, according to a study of US biology textbooks. Women were highlighted only 13% of the time, while 6.7% were from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.  Black women were not represented a single time in any of the works analyzed.

  • Richard Reddick. Credit: Molly Akin

    The pressure on researchers from ethnic minority groups to participate in campus diversity issues comes at a cost. This Nature article by Virginia Gewin summarizes research on cultural taxation and shares the experiences and recommendations from five scientists.

  • Challenges for the Female Academic During the COVID-19 Pandemic

    Science and innovation benefit from diversity. However, as the global community fights COVID-19, the productivity and scientific output of female academics are disproportionately affected, leading to loss of women's scientific expertise from the public realm.

  • Image credit: Dave Cutler (artist).

    Opinion: In the wake of COVID-19, academia needs new solutions to ensure gender equity

    Many women academics will likely bear a greater burden during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Academia needs to enact solutions to retain and promote women faculty who already face disparities regarding merit, tenure, and promotion.

  • Illustration of diverse group of people with face masks. Credits: istock/elbis

    10 Small Steps for Department Chairs to Foster Inclusion

    Improving the campus climate for faculty members remains an important and elusive goal for leaders in higher education. After all, the term “climate” itself signals something both all-encompassing and intangible: a facet of campus life that is simultaneously everywhere and nowhere. So how can campus leaders go about fostering climates that are, in fact, truly inclusive? How particularly is this possible at a time when faculty of color are witnessing and experiencing racist violence across the country?

  • Lab scientist - Credit: iStock.com/skynesher

    Deep Biases Prevent Diverse Talent from Advancing

    A new study indicates that underrepresented students in science-related fields are innovating at high rates—but not reaping commensurate rewards.

  • Academia in the Time of COVID-19: Towards an Ethics of Care

    "We argue that academia must foster a culture of care, help us refocus on what is most important, and redefine excellence in teaching and research. Such re-orientation can make academic practice more respectful and sustainable, now during confinement but also once the pandemic has passed. "

    Esteve Corbera, Isabelle Anguelovski, Jordi Honey-Rosés & Isabel Ruiz-Mallén (2020) Academia in the Time of COVID-19: Towards an Ethics of Care, Planning Theory & Practice, DOI: 10.1080/14649357.2020.1757891

  • Female Scientist head thinking about complex science. istockphoto

    STEM Equity and Inclusion (Un)interrupted?

    The pandemic will negatively impact the careers of women in STEM, particularly those of color, and failure to respond could jeopardize years of progress toward faculty equity, argue Stephanie A. Goodwin and Beth Mitchneck.

  • Abiola Farinde-Wu

    Pregnant Mother Scholar in a Pandemic

    My experiences during a pandemic are far from business as usual, writes Abiola Farinde-Wu. In fact, I carry a complex and challenging workload by virtue of my race and gender. 

    By Abiola Farinde-Wu

  • Mother working at home with children. Credit: Getty Images

    Scientist Mothers Face Extra Challenges in the Face of COVID-19

    The pandemic is amplifying nearly every disadvantage that women in STEM already face. But institutions and the scientific community can help

  • Dr. Zulema Valdez

    How universities can recruit and retain diverse faculty during the pandemic

    "Diversifying faculty isn’t just about hiring but also retaining minority professors, panelists noted. And to do that, universities are tasked with the challenge of building community for faculty of color online.

    Valdez suggested offering remote happy hours for professors from underrepresented backgrounds or moving minority faculty mentorship programs online, like the University of California Merced has done.

    Similarly, Virginia Tech hosted a two-day Faculty Women of Color Conference online, and while “nothing can replace” the experience of “walking into a room and seeing 300 people of color,” it showed Pratt-Clarke that universities can “still convene large groups of people in community.”

  • From Pexels

    No Room of One's Own

    Early journal submission data suggest COVID-19 is tanking women's research productivity.

  • Image from pexels.com

    Risk without reward

    New computational analysis finds that underrepresented scholars outperform majority peers in terms of novel research, but they don't reap the same rewards.

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