Gender-Based Microaggressions in STEM Settings

Abstract

Despite efforts to recruit and retain women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, women are still less likely than men to pursue and persist in STEM education and careers (Cheryan, Ziegler, Montoya, & Jiang, 2017; Lord, Layton, & Ohland, 2011). Addressing this issue is important to educators and policy makers striving to make STEM more inclusive in order to strengthen the U.S. STEM workforce. Researchers investigating this gender disparity have documented the role of societal gender stereotypes asserting that men are more suited for STEM than women. Recent social psychological research shows that nowadays these stereotypes and biases tend to be implicit, expressed subtly in the things that people say and do (Nosek, Banaji, & Greenwald, 2002). In my research, I focus on subtle expressions of gender stereotyping – also termed “microaggressions” – in academic STEM environments. In STEM settings in which these microaggressions persist, men may feel welcomed and valued, whereas women become at risk of leaving. This suggests the need to examine and raise awareness of microaggressions and their effects on everyone in STEM settings.