Bachelors degree inclusion for women of color effectiveness scores in the uk and us

Abstract

Women of Color are underrepresented in STEM at the undergraduate level and are especially underrepresented in fields like computer science. Those who persist in these fields experience isolation, micro-aggressions, and sexual harassment. Little is known about the finer details of the underrepresentation and particularly the kinds of institutions where Women of Color thrive and the policies and practices that may lead to more inclusive cultures. The Centering Women of Color in STEM (CWCS) project is a collaborative research project using quantitative analysis to determine where underrepresented women graduate with bachelor's degrees in STEM in the UK and the US. We present the results from the UK research, for which we have a devised an "effectiveness score' to represent the culmination of factors we believe most affect Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) women's participation in computer science at the undergraduate level. We have designed the effectiveness score much like a league table and remain open to discussion and suggestions for improving the scale. We also present results from the US research, for which we have devised an "effectiveness score' that represents the number of women of color (WoC) who graduate with degrees in STEM from an institution, normalized by the size of the department and the demographic makeup of the institutions. We used this score to investigate trends among institutions where WoC are thriving. Finally, we present an online portal, where this analysis is made available to the public.