A Critical Feminist Approach from the Geosciences to Transform Workplace Climate in Partnership with Professional Associations

Abstract

The ADVANCEGeo Partnership program for transforming workplace climate is informed by critical feminist approaches that seek to disrupt inequities in strongly gendered and racialized disciplines. The program’s main organizational change intervention is a community-based model for bystander intervention education, informed by a feminist ethics of care. Persistent demographic trends in the geosciences required an intersectional framework and a focus on exclusionary behaviors that lead to hostile climates. This approach also responds to unique challenges of disciplines with strong field training and research, by recognizing that sexism, racism, ableism, homophobia and transphobia jeopardize field safety. The program also promotes policies that identify harassment, bullying and discrimination as research misconduct and leverage collaborations with professional associations to transform culture in a discipline.